THE LIBRARIES
Bequest of
Frederic Bancroft
1860-1945
LIVES
Mf
L O J{ L» L Y .\ D II L' Jt S T
ATD
i.ORD BJtOUGHA.M
LIVES
OF
LOKD LYNDHURST
AND
LOED BROUCIHAM,
LORD CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE
GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND.
BY THE LATE
JOHN LOKD CAMPBELL. LL.D. F.R.S.E.
LONDON:
JOHN MUBBAY,: A]",]^F;]VlAKl^' STREET
■tTif. ri'gh't of, PravsJofi^ -,t )'eser.>ed.
He. ri'gh't of", Ihravslo^lrhfi -,t )'eser.>ed.
\ \\':r.\r'. •••■ '
, J J ' ' '
VI PREFACE.
of his eiforts for education and literature, and of the
influence which he exercised over the times in which
he lived.
This volume, written in the short intervals of
pressing business, also suffers from the disadvantage
of not having the final corrections and revisions of
the author's own hand ; but I trust that it may
nevertheless be considered a not unworthy conclu-
sion of my father's biographical work, and that it
may meet with the same favourable reception from
the public that has been accorded to the former
volumes.
Mary Scarlett Campbell.
14, CuKzoN Stkket, May Fair,
Becemher, 1868.
CONTENTS
OF
THE EIGHTH VOLUME.
LORD CHANCELLOR LYNDHURST
CHAPTER I.
HIS EARLY LIFE. 1772-1804.
Lord Lyndhurst as a subject for biography, Page 1. His family, 3. His birth iu
America, 4. His father comes to England, 5. Lord Lyndhurst at the time
of his father's death, 7. Qy. when Lord Lyndhurst came to England from
America, 7. At school, 8. He is in love, and writes verses, 8. He goes to
Cambridge, 9. His Academical honours, 9. His early devotion to republican
principles, 10. He is admitted of Lincoln's Inn, but resides in the Temple, 10.
The author becomes acquainted with him, 11. He attempts to practise as a
special pleader under the bar, 1 1. His travels in America, 1 1.
CHAPTER H.
AT THE BAR TILL HE WAS APPOINTED SOLICITOR GENERAL, 1804-1819.
He is called to the bar, 7th June, 1804, ^t. 32, 13. His slow progress, 13. He
becomes a Serjeant-at-Law, 14. His joy at the escape of Napoleon from Elba,
14. He is counsel for Dr. "Watson, accused of high treason, 16. His speech for
the prisoner, 17. Excites the admiration of Lord Cast lereagh, and is cauglit
in arat-irap baited with Cheshire cheese, 19. He is returned to Parliament for
a government borough, 21. He becomes a supjwrtcr of all the measures of an
ultra-Tory government, 21. He is made Chief Justice of Chester, 23. And
Solicitor General, 23. His great success in his new career, 24. Unhappy fate
of a brother rat, 24. His marriage, 24. His domestic life, 25.
CHAPTER HL
solicitor general ATTORNEY GENERAL — MASTER OF THE ROLLS. 1819-1827.
Trial of the Cato street conspirators, 26. Qy. Should high treason be a capital
ofience? 26. Arbitrary policy of the government at the conclusion of the roign
of George HL, 27. Part taken by Lord Lyndhurst, when Solicitor General, in
support of this arbitrary policy, 28. Death of George HI., and arrival of Qiireii
VUl CONTENTS.
Caroline in England, 31. The Queen's trial, 31. Speech of Mr. Solicitor Copley
against the Queen, 32. He still opposes all mitigation of the penal code, and
all law amendment, 35. He becomes Attorney General, 35. His views upon
the question of Catholic Emancipation, 36. His speech against the Prisoners'
Counsel Bill, 36. His mild conduct as public prosecutor while Attorney General,
37. The part taken by him in Chancery Reform, 37. His practice at the bar
while Attorney General, 39. His aspiration to the office of Prime Minister, 40.
And to the character of a man of fashion, 40. He is returned for the Uni-
versity of Cambridge, 41. His reasons for now declaring himself a strong anti-
Catholic, 41. He is made Master of the Rolls, 43. His comportment as an
Equity Judge, 44. He devotes himself to politics, 44. Death of Lord Liverpool,
44. His celebrated speech against Catholic Emancipation, 45. The brief
from which he spoke, 48. Copley created Lord Chancellor, 49. And Baron
Lyndhurst, 49.
CHAPTER IV.
1X)HD CHANCELLOR UNDER CANNING, LORD GODERICH, AND THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON,
1827-1830.
Opposite views taken by Lord Eldon and Lord Lyndhurst of humhiig, 50. Their
reciprocal courtesy, 50. Lord Lyndhurst's inauguration as Lord Chancellor, 51.
He takes his seat in the House of Lords, 52. His expedient for disposing of
Scotch appeals, 52. He supports the Dissenters' Marriage Bill, 53. Reasons
for his being very quiet while Canning was Minister, 54. Lord Goderich Prime
Minister, 54. Resignation of Lord Goderich, 56. Formation of the Duke of
Wellington's administration, 57. Lord Lyndhurst continues Chancellor, 57.
Lord Lyndhurst as the Duke of Wellington's Chancellor, 58. He concurs in
the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, 58. He again opposes Catholic
emancipation, 59. Sudden resolution of the Government that Catholic emanci-
pation should be granted, 60. Lord Lyndhurst concurs, 60. He delivers the
royal speech recommending Catholic emancipation, 60. Skirmishes with Lord
Eldon, 61. Lord Lyndliurst's celebrated speech in favour of Catholic emanci-
pation, in answer to his celebrated speech against Catholic emancipation, 61.
Lord Eldon's defence of his own consistency, 64. Death of George IV., 65.
Mistake of the Duke of Wellington in courting the support of the ultra-Tories
instead of the moderate Liberals, 66. Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst appoints all
the puisne Judges of his own authority, 67.
CHAPTER V.
LORD CHIEF BARON. JANUARY, 1831 NOVEMBER, 1834.
Intrigue for continuing Lyndhurst as Chancellor under Lord Grey, 68. Brougham
insists upon and obtains the Great Seal, 69. Lyndhurst becomes Lord Chief
Baron of the Court of Exchequer, 70. His high qualities as a common law
Judge, 71. Query whether any exception to his impartiality ? 72. His wonderful
power of memory exhibited in the case of Small v. Attwood, 72. Chief Baron
Lyndhurst goes into strong opposition, 73. The Reform Bill in the House of
Commons, 74. Lyndhurst's behaviour on the sudden dissolution of Parliament,
74. The Reform Bill in the House of Lords, 75. Lyndhurst's speech against
it on the second reading, 76. Lyndhurst's claim to consistency. 78. The Reform
Bill again introduced, 78. Lyndhurst's speech against it on the second reading,
CONTENTS. ix
79. Great blunder committed by Lyiidhurst in tlie Committee, 80. Crisis on
the dispute between the King and his Ministers about creating Peers to pass
the Reform Bill, 81. Lyndliurst sent for by the King to be the head of a new
Government, 82. The Duke of Wellington, by Lyndhurst's advice, to be
at the head of the Government, 83. The new Government extinguished, 84.
Lord Grey restored, 84. Lyndhurst's defence of his conduct in this affair, 85.
Lyndhurst abandons his opposition to the Reform Bill, 88. Peel constructs the
Consercafive i)arty, 88. Lyndhurst's factious policy, 89. His attack on the
Solicitor General, 89. He opposes the County Court Bill, 90. His inactivity in
1834, 92. Indiscreet dismissal of Lord Melbourne by William IV., 93.
CHAPTER VL
IX>RD CHANCELLOR DURING THE 100 DAYS, AND EX-CHANCELLOR DURING THE
ADMINISTRATION OF LORD MELBOURNE. NOVEMBER, 1834 SEPTEMBER, 1841.
Lyndhurst again Chancellor, 95. Meeting of a new Parliament, 96. Logomachy
between Lyndhurst and Brougham, 9G. Sir R. Peel resigns, 99. Lyndhurst
again ex-Chancellor, 100. Lord Lyndhurst's bill about incestuous marriages,
100. Lyndhurst's opposition to the Municipal Reform Bill, 101. His speech to
support his plan of defeating the bill, 104. He mutilates the bill in committee,
106. Lord Denman charges Lyndhurst with inconsistency, 106. Lyndhurst's
defence of himself, 107. Peel takes part against Lyndhurst on the Municipal
Corporations Bill, lOS. Lyndhurst vindicates his conduct, 108. Lyndhurst
irritates Brougham with a representation that Campbell was to be Chancellor,
109. Lyndhurst in the House of Lords '" like a bull in a china shop," 110.
His renewed attack on the Attorney General for bribery at Staflbrd, 111.
Lyndhurst's obstructive policy, 112. Lyndhurst's "Review of the Session,"
113. Lord Melbourne's reply to him, 115. Lyndhurst supports the Prisoners'
Counsel Bill, answering his former speech against it, 116. Coalition of Lyndhurst
and Brougham against the Government, 116. Bill to abolish imprisonment
for debt, 118. Death of "William IV., 119. Accession of Queen Victoria,
119. Lyndhurst's Review of the Session, 120. His second marriage, 120. Bad
law laid down in debate by Brougham at the instigation of Lj-ndhurst, 121.
Growing unpopularity of the Melbourne Government, 122. Discussion about
Lyndhurst calling the Irish aliens in blood, language, and religion, 122.
Resignation of Lord Melbourne, 124. New Government upset by dispute about
Ladies of the Bedchamber, 124. Uniform penny postage carried, 12."). Anotlier
sessional review by Lord Lyndhurst, 126. Lyndhurst's conduct on the great
question respecting parliamentary privilege, 128. Lyndhurst's ix)sitiou in
1841, 130. General Election, 130.
CHAPTER VII.
LORD CHANCELLOR UNDER SIR ROBERT PEEL, SEPTEMBER, 1841 — Jl LV, 1846.
Lyndhurst again Chancellor, 132. Prorogation, 7th Oct., 132— Conclusion of first
session of the new parliament, 132. Lyndhurst's obliging disposition, 133.
Lyndhurst's fourth Chancellorship, 1.33. Lyndhurst /aZ/s qiiulia, 134. Paucity
of his decisions, 135. Speaker Sutton's case, 135. Judicial business of the
House of Lords, 138. Johnstone v. Beattie, establishing the narrow-mindedness
X CONTENTS.
of English lawyers, 139. The great case as to the necessity for a mass priest to
celebrate marriage, 141. Daniel O'Connell's case, 143. Lyndhurst as a member
of Peel's last cabinet, 146. Lyndhurst in the debates of the House of Lords, 147.
Lyndhurst's aid in amending the law of libel, 150. Disruirtion of the Church of
Scotland, 151. Lyndhurst a Liberal, 151. Lord Denman and the law of libel,
153. Bail in Error Bill thrown out by Lyndhurst, 153. Relation between
Peel and Lyndhurst, 154. Bail in Error Bill passed by Lyndhurst, 155. Lynd-
hurst's Charitable Trusts Bill, 155. Jew Bill, 155. Bills thrown out by
Government in the Commons which Lyndhurst supported in Lords, 156. Lynd-
hurst's proper treatment of cases of breach of privilege, 157. Q. Whether the
Sovereign can constitutionally leave the realm without making Lords Justices ?
157. Sudden political changes in the autumn of 1845, 158. Introduction of
Sir Robert Peel's Bill for Repealing the Corn Laws, 158. Lord Lyndhurst's
great discovery in political economy, 159. Rejection of the Charitable Trusts
Bill by a coalition of Whigs and Protectionists, 159 ; and of the Irish Coercion
Bill, 160. Death by Accidents Bill: Mode of estimating the damages in case
of an actual or expectant Chancellor, 160. How the Corn Law Abolition Bill
passed through the House of Lords, 161.
CHAPTER VIII.
OUT OF OFFICE. — 1846-1854.
Lyndhurst's final resignation of office, 162. Lyndhurst's intrigue to bring about a
reconciliation between the Peelites and the Protectionists, and to turn out the
Whigs, 163. Lyndhurst resolves never again to meddle with politics, 166.
Lyndhurst in retirement, 166. Fusion dinner at Stratheden House, 167. His
country house, 167. His Life in London, 168. Lyndhurst again plunges into
politics, and becomes a Protectionist, 168. Lyndhurst's explosion upon the
Canada Compensation Bill, 169. Perpetual peace between Lord Lyndhurst and
Lord Campbell, 171. Lyndhurst begins a new political career, 172. Lyndhurst
very factious in the Session of 1851, 172. He is still more factious in the
beginning of 1852, 174. He becomes protector of Lord Derby's Government,
175. His eulogy on Lord St. Leonards, 175. His Bill to do away with the
Xjenalties of praemunire, 176. His celebrated speech on Baron de Bode's case,
176. Blunders committed by Lord Derby's Government, 178. Lyndhurst's
patriotic conduct on the downfall of Lord Derby, 179. Lyndhurst's denunci-
ation of the outrageous conduct of Russia, 179. Lyndhurst's effort for the
complete emancipation of the Jews, 180. Laudable attention now given by
Lyndhurst to bills for amending the law, 182. His judgment in the great
Bridgewater case, 183.
CHAPTER IX.
1854 TO THE AUTUMN OF 1858.
Session of 1854, 188. Russian War, 188. He opposes my Foreign Intercourse Bill,
188. His residence in France, 190. Lord Palmerston Prime Minister, 190.
Lyndhurst's speech against Prussia, 190. Lyndhurst champion of the Jews,
192. Lyndhurst at Paris, 192. The Wensleydale life peerage, 192. Appellate
jurisdiction of the Lords, 193. Lyndlmrst champion of the rights of women,
194. Jew Bill again rejected, 196. Lyndhurst studies tlie Fathers, 197.
CONTENTS. XI
Session in spring of 1857, 197. Lyndhurst on the China question, 197. New
Parliament, 198. Lyndhurst on divorce, 199. Lyndhurst again supports the
Jew Bill without success, 199. His reckless conduct with respect to the case
of Sheddon v. Patrick, 200. Obscene Publications Bill, 201. Palmerston's
approaching fall, 202. Consequences of the plot to assassinate Louis Napoleon,
202. Diplomatic relations renewed between Lords Lyndhurst and Campbell,
203. Law as to aliens residing in England, 203. Final emancipation of the
Jews, 204. Character of Lord Lyndhurst, 207. His person, 209. His happi-
ness in domestic life, 209.
LORD CHANCELLOR BROUGHAM.
CHAPTER I.
HIS EARLY lilFE IN SCOTLAND, 1778-1805.
Qualifications and disqualifications of the Biographer to write this Memoir, 213.
"Brougham of that ilk," 214. Brougham's grandfather, 218. Father, 219.
Marriage of his father and mother, 219. Birth of Lord Brougham, 220. His
precocious infancy, 222. Talents and virtues of his mother, 222. His school
education, 223. At College, 226. His papers sent to the Royal Society on
Light, 227. On Porisms, 228. His great success in debating societies, 229-
His irregularities, 229. At the Caledonian Hunt, 230. He chooses the profes-
sion of an Advocate, 232. His Law studies, 233. He founds the " Academy of
Physics," 234. His examinations and thesis before his call to the Bar, 235.
He resolves to make his fortune by defending pauper prisoners at the Assizes,
238. His appearance before Lord Eskgrove at Jedburgh, 238. The Judge
charged, 238. Brougham's defence of a sheep-stealer, 239. Q. Whether half-
boots are boots'^ 240. How far ebriety may be a defence for a husband beating
his wife, 240. Brougham's eccentricities, 241. His book on the Colonial Policy
of European Nations, 242. ' The Edinburgh Review,' 244. Brougham's contri-
butions to the first number, 245. ' English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' 246.
Brougham's critique on Professor Young, 247.
CHAPTER II.
FROM HIS REMOVAL TO ENGLAND TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE III., 1805-1820.
He resolves to transfer himself to the English bar, 249. He is entered of Lincoln's
Inn, 249. He comes to reside in London, 250. His great success in society in
London, 251. Accession to power of " xVll the Talents," 253. Brougham's visit
to Portugal, 253. His efforts for the Whigs when they were turned out, 254.
He is called to the bar, 255. His bad success at first, 255. Goes the Northern
Circuit, 255. Lord Eldon's misnomer, 256. Brougham and Campbell first
upon the stage together, 257. Brougliam's resentment against the Whigs for
not bringing him into Parliament, 258. He becomes member for Camelford,
259. His month of silence, 260. His maiden speech, 261. His claims to the
XU CONTENTS.
leadership of the Opposition, 262. He devotes himself to Negro slaverj ,
264. His crusade against the Orders in Council, 267. His victory, 271.
Transient glimpse of office to the Whigs, 271. He is excluded from Parliament,
272. His unsuccessful candidature for Liverpool, 272. His bad opinion of the
Whig leaders, 273. His first great speech at the bar on " Military Flogging,"
274. The same publication held innocent at Westminster, and a libel in
Lincolnshire, 278. Brougham languishes when out of Parliament, 280. Origin
of his connection with Caroline of Brunswick, 281. He is restored to the
House of Commons, 282. His fecundity in debate, 283. His solution of
the evil with which he thought the country was afflicted from the low
price of corn, 284. His opposition to the " Six Acts," 285. His exposition of
the tactics of a rival orator, 286. Query as to the qualities by which the Scots
in leaving their own country succeed in life ? 287. Best smelling-bottle for a
parliamentary antiquary, 287.
CHAPTER HL
ATTOHNEY-GENERAL TO QUEEN CAROLINE. 1820-1821.
Death of George IIL, and position of Brougham at commencement of new reign,
289. Unhappy career of Caroline of Brunswick, 290. Brougham becomes
her legal adviser, 291. The Princess Charlotte of Wales, 292. Her elope-
ment, 292. Brougham's advice to her, 293. Object of the Regent to drive
Caroline abroad, 294. Brougham's advice to her to remain in England,
294. Her conduct in foreign countries, 29'5. Brougham's offer without her
authority that she should never return to England nor take the title of Queen,
295. Caroline becomes Queen on the death of George HL, 296. She appoints
Brougham her Attorney General, 297. Brougham's mj'sterious conduct in not
communicating to the Queen a proposal intrusted to him on her behalf, 297.
Negotiations between the King and Queen, 298. Conference at St. Omer's, 300.
The Queen comes to England to claim her rights, 301. She is suspicious of
Brougham, 301. The Green Bag, 302. Brougham acts openly, boldly, and
skilfully, in defence of the Queen, 303. His threats of retaliation against the
King, 304. Diplomacy resorted to, 306. Rupture of the negotiation, 307.
Bill of Pains and Penalties introduced, 308. Preliminary proceedings respecting
it, 308. Queen's trial, 311. Brougham's great speech for the Queen, 313. Bill
ruined by a split among the Bishops, 321. Query Brougham's jirivate opinion
as to the Queen's guilt? 322. Brougham's great popularity from his defence of
the Queen, 324. Sudden increase to his practice at the bar, 324. Queen's
claim to be crowned, 325. Queen's death, 327.
CHAPTER IV.
FROM THE DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE TILL HE BECOMES LORD CHANCELLOR.
1821-1830.
Brougham obliged to doff his silk gown and to don his stuff, 328. His speech
against Blacow, 328. The best speech he ever delivered against the clergy of
Durham and Dr. Philjjotts, 330. Rapid review of the five years which inter-
vened between the Queen's death and the formation of Canning's Government,
337. Brougham's love of protection and horror of free-trade, 338. Motion in
the House of Commons that Brougham and Canning should be taken into
CONTENT)?. Xlll
custody, 339. Abolition of duelling, 342. Brougham's speech on the case of
Smith the Missionary, by himself considered his best, 344. Brougham's attacks
on Lord Eldon, 345. Brougham on the elevation of Lord Gifford, 347. Change
caused bj' the sudden death of Lord Liverpool, 348. Canning's proposal to coalesce
with the Whigs, 349. Warmly supported by Brougham, 349. He refuses the office
of Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 350. He obtains a silk gown, and " takes his
place within the bar accordingly," 350. Brougham's defence of himself for
"going over," 351. Coalition against Canning in the House of Lords, 353.
Brougham's brilliant success for a time on the Northern Circuit. 354. His
coronation as Henry IX., 354. Death of Canning, 355. Lord Goderich's
Government, 355. The Duke of Wellington's Government, 355. Brougham's
struggle for the lead on the Opposition side, 356. Golden rule for getting on
well in society, 356. Brougham tries to alarm the nation about the dangerous
power now enjoyed by the Duke of Wellington, 357. Brougham's celebrated
six hours' speech on Law Reform, 357. Brougham as a legislator, 360.
Brougham's contests for the county of Westmorland, 360. Catholic Emanci-
pation carried, 36L Cessation of hostilities during the first Session of 1830,
362. State of parties, 363. George IV. moribund, 364. Accession of William
IV., 364. Effect in England of the Revolution in France in July, 1830, 364.
Brougham elected member for the county of York, 365. He is mounted on a
charger as Knight of the Shire, 366. Condition of the Duke of Wellington as
Minister, 367. He vainly attempts to please the ultra-Tories, 368. He insults
the Liberals, 368. Brougham declares war against the attorneys, 369. Forma-
tion of Lord Grey's Government, 370. What was to be done with Brougham ? 370.
His explosion in the House of Commons, 371. Sensation produced by it, 372.
Conjecture as to the manner in which he obtained the Great Seal, 373.
CHAPTER V.
LORD CHANCELLOR. NOVEMBER, 1830, TO NOVEMBER, 1834.
He takes his seat on the woolsack, 375. He becomes Baron Brougham and Vaux,
376. He is made a peer, 377. His claim of a female barony, 377. Attack
upon him in the House of Commons, 377. Defence of him by Macintosh and
Macaulay, 378. His maiden speech in the House of Lords, 379. Brougham's
own astonishment at finding himself Chancellor, 380. His fitness for the
office, 380. His high plans and aspirations, 382. Concoction of the Reform
Bill, 383. The Chancellor's first attempt at legislation, 384. Lyndhurst
made Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 384. Chancery Reform, 386. Reform
Bill launched, 388. The King's Guard forced by the Lord Chancellor, 389.
Sudden dissolution of Parliament, 391. Fabulous statement upon Lord
Brougham's authority of his having assumed the functions of royalty, 392.
The King's early sincerity and zeal in the cause of Reform, 394. Part
acted by the Lord Chancellor in the prorogation scene, 395. The Lord
Chancellor's vindication, 397. Lord Brougham's celebrated speech on the
second reading of the Reform Bill, 397. Question as to the creation of
peers to carry the Reform Bill, 399. His attack on Lord Wynford, 400.
The Chancellor at the Coronation, 404. The second Reform Bill in the
House of Lords, 405. Great blunder committed by Lord Lyndhurst, 406.
Resignation of the Whig Ministers, 406. The Chancellor's employment during
the interregnum, 407. Reform finally carried, and Parliament prorogued,
410. Dispute between the King and his Ministers about dissolving the last
XIV CONTENTS.
unreformed Parliament, 411. The King yields, 412. Brougham in the
zenith of his greatness, 412. His coming fall, 414. Elections for the first
Reformed Parliament, 414. Blunders of the Whigs, 415. Irish Coercion
Bill, 415. The Chancellor's legislative measures, 417. Altercation between
the Chancellor and the late Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 417. Irish
Temporalities Bill, and Slavery Abolition Bill, 419. Brougham in the
judicial business of the House of Lords, 421. In the Court of Chancery,
421. Brougham's philosophical pursuits while Chancellor, 422. His dispute
with Home, the Attorney General, 424. Brougham's kindness to Sir John
Campbell when thrown out at Dudley, 426. How he wrote a speech for
the Solicitor General, 427. Secession of Stanley and three other Cabinet
Ministers, 429. Brougham on application of Church property, 429. Resigna-
tion of Lord Grey, 430. Brougham's refusal of the Premiership, 433. Lord
Melbourne Premier, 433. Brougham "Viceroy over him," 435. Fantastic
tricks of the Lord Chancellor, 436. The Chancellor at the Fish dinner, 438.
Poor-Law Bill and Central Criminal Court Bill, 439. Brougham's quarrel with
the ' Times,' 440. Sir John Campbell's eulogy on the Lord Chancellor in the
House of Commons, 444. Brougham at the prorogation, 446. His " Progress "
in Scotland, 446. The Grey Festival, 454. Brougham seeks to fortify his
position as Chancellor by making Pepys Master of the Rolls, 458. Dismissal of
the Whig Ministers, 458. Brougham's charge against Queen Adelaide, 458.
Brougham's manner of returning the Great Seal to the King, 460. His offer to
become Chief Baron of the Exchequer, 460.
CHAPTER VI.
" THE HUNDRED DAYS " TO THE FINAL RESIGNATION OF LORD MELBOURNE.
1834-1841.
On a dissolution of Parliament, majority returned for the Whigs, and Brougham's
exultation, 463. His speech against the new Government, 464. Lord Melbourne
restored. What was to be done with Brougham ? 466. Brougham duped, and
the Great Seal put into Commission, 467. Brougham Lord Protector, 468.
Lyndhurst's factious opposition, 469. Brougham's multifarious labours in
Parliament, 470. His complaints of the abuse in the Press, 472. And in
the House of Commons, 472. His confident expectation of being restored to
office, 473. Resolution of the Cabinet to abandon Brougham, to make Pepys
Chancellor, and Bickersteth Master of the Rolls, 475. Opinion that Brougham
was ill-used by Melbourne and his old colleagues, 476. Effect on Brougham
of the ill-usage he suffered, 477. Bickersteth a failure, 477. Brougham's
recovery, 478. Lord Cottenham Chancellor, 479. Approaching death of
William IV., 480. Accession of Queen Victoria. Brougham's panegyric upon
his late royal master, 481. Melbourne continues Prime Minister, 482.
Brougham's ascendancy in the House of Lords, 483. He is violent against the
Government and the Court, 483. Query Whether he was given to glozing?
484. He co-operates with the Tories, pretending to be Radical, 488. Canada
Bill, 489. He denounces the Whigs as having become courfiers, 490. His labours
with his pen, 493. His ' Political Philosophy,' and the bankruptcy of the Useful
Knowledge Society, 493. The success of his ' Sketches of Statesmen,' 494. Minis-
terial crisis, 495. His delight at supposed fall of Melbourne, 495. Melbourne
restored, 496. Brougham on the Bedchamber ladies, 496. He complains of a
CONTENTS. XV
breach of privilege in being libelled, 497. His grand motion as Leader of the
Tory Opposition, 498. His victory is fruitless, 502. Brougham assists Lyndhurst
in the Review of the Session, .504. Kcport of his death, .505. Brougham
suspected of suicide, 509. Announcement of the Queen's marriage, 511
Privilege question on right of Houses of Parliament to authorise publication of
criminatory matter, 512. Part taken by Brougham, 512. Dispute settled by a
bill establishing the disputed right, 514. Brougham's chateau in France, 514.
Session of 1841, 515. Vote of want of confidence carried against Government
in the House of Commons, 517. Dissolution of Parliament, 517. Return of
Conservative majority, 517. Brougham refuses to rejoin the Whigs, and to
"let bygones be bygones," 518. Brougham tramples on the dead bodj' of
Melbourne, 518. Sir R. Peel Prime Minister, 519.
CHAPTER VH.
FROM THE RESIGNATION OF LORD MELBOURNE TO THE RESIGNATION OF
SIR ROBERT PEEL. 1841-1846.
Brougham, professing to be " in the front of the Opposition," is Advocate General
of the new Government, 520. Brougham's reception of Lord Campbell in the
House of Lords, 522. Brougham contented and happy, 522. Brougham on the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 523. Creation of an Earl by
Brougham, 524. Brougham's locality in the House of Lords, 525. Brougham's
logomachies with Lord Campbell, 526. Brougham's consistency on the Income-
tax, 526. Brougham petted by the Tory peers, 527. Prosperity of Sir R.
Peel's Government, 528. Brougham trumpeter to the Tories, 529. Part taken
by Brougham on O'Connell's case, 5.30. Brougham's imputation against others
acting judicially, that they were actuated by party motives, 531. His valuable
assistance in carrying Lord Campbell's bills, 531. How a public man may be
written down, 531. Disruption of the Church of Scotland, 531. Brougham's
scheme of becoming President of the Judicial Committee, 532. Interview at
Boulogne between Brougham and his biographer, 536. Session of 1845, 537.
Brougham performs to empty boxes, 537. Brougham at the Court of Queen
Victoria, 538. Sudden turn of the Wheel of Fortune, 538. Brougham's unhap-
piness on the success of the ' Lives of the Chancellors,' 539. Brougham's denun-
ciation of the Corn Law League, 540. His speculations with resix>ct to Peel's
remaining in office, 541. Factious coalition of Whigs and Protectionists against
the Government bill for the Administration of Charities, 541. The Corn-law
Abolition Bill in the House of Lords, 542. Brougham's eloge of Sir R. Peel,
542. Peel's approaching end, 543. Irish Coercion Bill, Peel's cowp tie grace,
544. Restoration of the Whigs, 545. Close of the Session of 1846, 545.
CHAPTER VIIL
1847—1852.
Brougham a leader of Opposition, 546. Combined attack of Brougham and
Stanley on the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 546. Dinner to the
Heads of Factions at Stratheden House, .547. Brougham's failure in at-
tempting to imitate Lyndhurst in a review of the Session, 547. Brougham
remains through the autumn in England, 548. Intrigues in consequence of
the dangerous illness of the Lord Clinnfollor. 548. State of France. 550-
XVI CONTENTS.
Brougham tries to become a naturalised French citizen and a Deputy to the
National Assembly, 550. Correspondence with the Minister of Justice, 552.
Citizen Brougham in the House of Lords, 554. Articles on Citizen Brougham
in the French and English newspapers, 555. Brougham supports the Whig
Government, 556. My visit to him at Brougham Hall, 557. Brougham
enlists with the Protectionists, 558. He resists the repeal of the Navigation
Laws, 558. Defeat of Brougham and the Protectionists, 560. Brougham
resolves to make me Chief Justice of England, 561. Brougham devotes himself
to science, 563. His lecture on light to the French Institute, 563. Brougham's
advice to me on my becoming a Judge, 564. Resignation of Lord Cottenham,
565. Brougham invests himself with the functions of Chancellor in the House of
Lords, 566. Brougham declines to lay down his functions on the appointment
of Lord Truro as Chancellor, 567. His judicial performances in the absence of
the Lord Chancellor, 568. Attacks upon him in the Press, 568. He complains
of breach of privilege for a libel upon him, 568. All his schemes for recovering
the Great Seal for ever ruined, 570. Papal aggression, 570. Brougham's
quarrel with Lord Truro, 571. Brougham gives up the great game of politics,
572. My visit to the Chateau Eleanor Louise, 573. Factious proceedings of
Lords Brougham and Lyndhurst, 573. Fall of Lord John Russell, 574. Regret
of Lord Brougham, 574. Brougham under Lord St. Leonards as Chancellor,
574. Overthrow of the Derbyites, 574. Brougham favours the coalition be-
tween the Whigs and Peelites, 575.
CHAPTER IX.
1852 — April, 1859.
Sketch of the years 1852 to 1856, 576. Brougham supports Lord Aberdeen, 577.
The appellate jurisdiction of the Lords, 578. Courts of reconciliation, 579. The
Criminal Code, 579. Meeting with Brougham in Paris, Oct., 1854, 580.
Conduct of the war, 581. Palmerston Prime Minister, 581. Brougham sup-
ports the new Government, 581. Attack upon the appellate jurisdiction of the
Lords, 582. Parke made a peer for life, 582. Brougham's able opposition to
life peerages, 583. Violent attacks on Brougham as an appellate judge, 583.
Farewell for the present of my ' Life of Lord Brougham,' 583. From 13th
April, 1856, to 13th April, 1859, 584.
Postscript BY THE Editor Page 591
Appendix " •'^■'
LIVES
OF THE
LOED CHANCELLOES OF ENGLAND.
LOED CHA^^CELLOE LYNDHUKST.
CHAPTER I.
HIS EARLY LIFE. 1772-1804.
Many of my contemporaries have sunk into the tomb, but CHAP.
Lord Lyndhurst, considerably my senior, survives, in the full ■'■•
enjoyment of his intellectual powers.* He is a noble subject j ^^.j ^ j_
for biography, from his brilliant talents — from the striking 'luist as a
vicissitudes of his career — from the antagonistic qualities wography.
which he displayed — and from the quick alternation of warm
praise and severe censure which must, in fairness, be pro-
nounced upon his actions. Having known him familiarly
above half a century both in public and in private life, I ought
to be able to do him justice ; and notwithstanding a hankering-
kindness for him ^vith all his faults, I think I can command
sufficient impartiality to save me in this Memoir from con-
founding the distinctions of right and wrong. All rivalry
between us has long ceased, and I am sure I can never be
induced to disparage or to blame him from resentment or
envy.
Half in jest, half in earnest, he has prayed that in writing
his Life I woidd be merciful to him ; and I have promised
that if he would supply me with materials I would do my
* This Memoir was begun iu Marcb, 1853. — Ed.
VOL. VIII. B
KEIGN OF GEORGE III.
CHAP, experiments on all manner of colours, primitive and com-
' pound; in short, groping through inspiration the right way to
eminence and fame. West's j)rogress was more rapid, and
from the patronage of George III. he gained the higher posi-
tion ; but Copley was more favoured by the public, and his
productions are in much greater estimation than those of his
countryman, once much prized for their skilful drawing and
academical correctness. While Copley continued at Boston,
he not only was considered a prodigy — making an income of
300?. a-year by drawing portraits at fourteen guineas a-piece —
but he sent over paintings for the Exhibition of the Eoyal
Academy in Somerset House. Some of these attracted con-
siderable notice, and he was strongly advised to push his
fortune on this side the Atlantic. To one of these counsellors
he answered : " I would gladly exchange my situation for the
serene climate of Italy, or even that of England ; but what
would be the advantage of seeking improvement at such an
outlay of time and money ? I am now in as good business as
the poverty of this place will admit. I make as much as if I
were a Eaphael or a Coreggio, and three hundred guineas
a-year, my present income, is equal to nine hundred a-year in
London. With regard to reputation, you are sensible that
fame cannot be durable where pictures are confined to sitting-
rooms, and regarded only for the resemblance they bear to
their originals. Were I sure of doing as well in Europe as
here, I would not hesitate a moment in my choice ; but I
might in the experiment waste a thousand pounds and two
years of my time, and have to return baffled to America.
My ambition whispers me to run this risk, and I think the
time draws nigh that must determine my future fortune."
x\ccording to the precept of Sir Joshua Keyuolds to artists,
he had continued a bachelor till the meridian of life ; but
about the year 1770 he entered the married state, uniting
himself to a young lady said to be of high respectability and
of great intellectual accomplishments. I have not been able
to discover her maiden name, or the exact time of their union.
But it rests on the most undoubted authority that on the
Amedca! '"" 21st day of May, 1772, they were made happy by the birth
of their first-born son, named John Singleton, after his
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. c
fatlier, and destined to be four times Lord Higli Chancellor CHAP
of Great Britain.
Before enteriug upon the career of the son, the reader may
'wish to be informed of the subsequent adventures of the sire.
In the beginning of the year 1774 he set sail fi-om Boston for His father
England, dreading that, if he deferred the voyage longer, 5,°"g[^'j^
it might be effectually prevented by hostilities between the
mother-country and her colonies. But he by no means then
resolved on seeking a new domicile, for he left his mother, his
wife, and his child, with all his unsold pictures and his house-
hold gods, behind him; in the hope that, having had a
glimpse of Europe, in all probability he should rejoin them,
and find all disputes amicably adjusted. A final separation
between the two countries was then as little thought of as
that the earth should be severed from the solar system. After
a short stay in London, where he said " he met with few
friends and many advisers" he impatiently set off" for Kome,
the object of his aspiring wishes since he first drew a likeness
on the wall witli a piece of chalk. There is no account of the
impression made upon him by the wonders of the Vatican,
but in May, 1775, we find him thus writing to an acquaint-
ance in London : —
" Having seen the Eoman school and the wonderful efforts of
genius exhibited by Grecian artists, I now wish to see the Vene-
tian and Flemish schools. There is a kind of luxury in seeing
as well as there is in eating and drinking; the more we indulge
the less are we to be restrained, and indulgence in art I think
innocent and laudable. Art is in its utmost perfection hero ; the
Apollo, the Laocoon, &c., leave nothing for the human mind to
wish for. More cannot be eifected by the genius of man than
what is happily combined in those miracles of the chisel."
This artistic tour gave a new impulse to Copley's genius,
and strengthened his confidence in his own powers. On his
return to London, in the end of the year 1775, he resolved
boldly to establish himself as an artist in this great metro-
polis, trusting to portrait-painting as his steady means of sub-
sistence, but not despairing of being able to enhance his fame
by original compositions commemorating interesting events in
English history. These, he wisely thought, offered him a
6 KEIGN OF GEORGE III.
CHAP, fairer hope than ' Holy Families,' ' Last Suppers,' or ' Cru-
I
cifixions,' to which his countryman West was devoting him-
self. Accordingly he set up his easel 25, George Street,
Hanover Square, the very house which his son, when Lord
High Chancellor, inhabited, and still — an octogenarian Ex-
Chancellor — inhabits.
His success fully justified his anticipations, and his ' Death
of Chatham,' though liable to severe criticism in some of its
details, being received with unbounded applause, placed him.
in the first rank of his profession. He was elected a Royal
Academician, and lived much respected by his brother
artists and by the public. Once, and once only, he figured
as a party in a court of justice. A rich citizen of Bristol •
came to Cojoley, and had himselt^ his wife, and seven children,
all included in a family piece. "It wants but one thing,"
said the head of the family, " and that is the portrait of my
first wife, for this one is my second." " But," said the artist,
" she is dead, you know, Sir : what can I do ? She is only to^
be admitted as an angel." " Oh no, not at all," answered the
other ; " she must come in as a woman ; no angels for me."'
The portrait of the first wife was added ; but, while the picture
remained in the studio, the citizen returned with a stranger
lady on his arm. " I must have anotlier cast of your hand,
Mr. Copley," said he ; " an accident befell my second wife ;
this lady is my third, and she is come to have her likeness
included in the family group." The painter complied, and
the husband looked with a glance of satisfaction on his three
spouses. Not so the living lady. On this occasion she
remained silent, but afterwards she called by herself and
remonstrated. "Never was such a thino- heard of: it was
unchristian that a man should have three wives at once ; her
character would be gone if she submitted to it ; out her pre-
decessors must go." And she solemnly declared that she had
her husband's full authority for the alteration. The artist
yielded, and immediately sent the picture home, that he
might have no more trouble with it. But the enraged triga-
mist, without sending it back, refused to pay for it, and,
being sued, set up as a defence that it was not according
to order. The Judge before whom the action was tried left
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. '
it to the Jury, "^ylletller tliey did not believe tliat, under CHAP,
the circumstances, the third wife had the authority of the '
defendant for directing the ejection of the first and second
wife ;" and the plaintiff recovered a verdict for the full amount
of his demand.
Sir Thomas Lawrence arose, to supersede for a time all
rivals in portrait-painting, although his reputation has since
sadly declined: but Copley, by successive historical pieces,
continued to maintain a high position as an artist till his
death, in the year 1815.
At this period his son, the subject of the present memoir, ^-^^''^ ^3''^''"
"was in the meridian of life, and, notwithstanding extra- the time of
ordinary talents and acquirements, had gained little public ^'^ ^^'^''<^i"'*
distinction. His mother lived to see him in the robes of Lord
Chancellor, but his father could hardly have hoped that he
would ever reach so high as the dignity of a puisne judge.
We must now trace his career, and analyse the " mixture of
good and evil arts " by which he reached the lofty eminence
he still commands.
When Copley, the father, sailed from America, as I have Q)'- wiien
related, his wife and son were left behind him, and I have not hmst came
been able to ascertain the exact time when they followed him *° England
. from Ame-
to England. Some have said that the youth continued to rica.
reside at Boston, after the treaty of peace recognising the
independence of America, so long as indelibly to fix upon
himself the stamp of American citizenship. When Lord
Chancellor Lyndhurst indiscreetly denounced the Irish as
" aliens in blood, language, and religion," Daniel O'Connell
retorted that the Cliancellor himself was an alien, and liable
to be reclaimed as a refugee Yankee. But there is clearly no
foundation for this surmise: his father must be considered
domiciled in England when the treaty of independence was
concluded ; the Chancellor himself was certainly transferred
to this country Avhile in statu impillari ; and he never again
set foot on American soil except as a tourist.*
* I have heard liini express Limsell' in terms of aifcctiun for Lis native land,
and speak proudly of distinguished Americans as his counti7meii. In early
life, when there seemed so little prospect of his bimiing ambition ever being
gratified, he must have regretted that he had lost the chance of becoming
President of the United States.
8
EEIGN OF GEOKGE III.
CHAP.
I.
At scliool.
He is in love
and writes
verses.
In the year 1786, young Copley appears to have been at
school at Clapham, in the county of Surrey, and precociously
both a lover and a poet. The author of ' Literary Lawyers,'
after noticing Sir William Jones, and a few others, from the
short list of those who have been celebrated both in West-
minster Hall and Paternoster Eow, thus proceeds : —
" Lord Lyudhurst, too, has wooed the Muse. While he was at
a school kept by a Mr. Franks, a circumstance occurred which
will serve to show how early the ardent temperament and ready
talent, which have distinguished his public career, developed
itself in this remarkable man. At Clapham there was a youug
ladies' school, w^hich was attended by the same dancing-master
as that employed at Mr. Franks' ; and, previous to his annual
ball, the two schools used frequently to meet together for the
purpose of practising. At one of these agreeable reunions young
Copley, then not more than fourteen years of age, was smitten
with the charms of a beautiful girl ; and at their next meeting
slipped into her hand a letter containing a locket with his hair,
and a copy of verses of which the following is a transcript.
They were entitled : —
' Verses addressed hy J. Cojdey to tlce most amiable .
' Thy fatal shafts unerring move,
I Low before tliine altar, love ;
I feel thy soft resistless flame
Glide swift through all my vital frame;
For whUe I gaze my bosom glows.
My blood in tides impetuous flows ;
Hope, fear, and joy alternate roll,
And floods of transport whelm my soul.
]My faltering tongue attempts in vain
In soothing murmurs to comialain ;
My tongue some secret magic ties,
My murmurs sink in broken sighs ;
Condemned to nurse eternal care.
And ever droji the silent tear.
Unheard I mourn, unheard I sigh,
Unfriended live, unpitied die.'
' I beg you will do me the honour to accept of the trifle which
accompanies it, and you will oblige
' Your affectionate admirer,
'J. S. Copley, jun.
' P.S. — Pray excuse the writing.'
"It is only necessaiy to add that the lady to whom these
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUEST.
verses were addressed still survives, and retains in her possession CHAP,
both the letter and its contents."
The lines, closely imitated from a well known translation
of Horace, I suspect to have been copied for the occasion
from a scrap book ; for the professed lover has never since
been known to versify.
From Clapham he was removed to a school at Chiswick.
Here he was taught first by the Eev. Mr. Crawford, after-
wards by the Eev. Dr. Home, father of the present Sir
William Home, once my colleague as law officer of the
Crown, now a Master in Chancery. I have not been able to
obtain any authentic account of young Copley's proficiency
or demeanour at this school ; but at this time he must have
laid the foundation of his classical knowledge, which is
reckoned very considerable.
He next entered on a field in which he acquitted himself He goes to
most creditably. The following is a copy of the entry of his ^'^™ ^I^q'
admission at Trinity College, Cambridge : —
" 1790, July 8. — Adinissus est Pensionarius Johannes Singleton
Copley, filius Johannis Singleton Copley de Boston in America,
a schola apud Chiswick in Middlesexia sub prtesidio Doctoris
Home. Annos nat. 18."
From his wonderful quickness of comprehension and
strength of memory he was able to make a given portion of
time devoted to study more available than any man in the
University, and he would occasionally affect to be an idler
and a man of pleasure ; but his solid acquirements must have
been the result of steady application.
When he Avas to take his Bachelor's degree, in a good His Aca-
year, he came out second wrangler, and he proved his honours,
proficiency not only in mathematics, but in classics and a.d.1794.
general learning, by obtaining a Trinity fellowship the first
time he sat for this liigbly creditable honour.*
* 1795, October 2 : Joannes Singleton Copley, juratus et admissus in socium
minorem.
1797, Julj' 5: Joannes Singleton Copley, jimitus et aclmissu.s in aocium
majorem.
He took Lis degree of M.A. 1797, and -nas created LL.D. in 1835.
10
KEIGN OF GEORGE III.
CHAP.
I.
His early
devotion to
republican
prindples.
He is ad-
mitted of
Liucoln's-
Inn, but re-
sides in the
Temple.
The tremendous struggle produced by tlie French Eevohi-
tion between the defenders of old institutions however
defective, and those who contended that all existing govern-
ments ought to be overturned, was now at its height; and
young Copley's mind being from infancy imbued with repub-
lican principles, he took what in American phrase he called
the " go-a-head side " so warmly and openly, as to run some
risk of serious animadversion. He gradually became more
cautious, but, till many years afterwards, when he was-
tempted to join the Tory ranks by the offer of a seat in
parliament and the near prospect of the office of Chief
Justice of Chester, he thought a democratic revolution would
be salutary, and he is said to have contemplated without
dismay the possible establishment of an Anglican Eepublic.
The law was the profession by which on this, as on the
other side of the Atlantic, such ambitious dreams were to be
realized. He had no appetite for the necessary drudgery,
but to gain an object which he had at heart he could for a
season submit to intense aj)plication. For his means of
subsistence he depended chiefly upon his fellowship; his
father, having lived rather expensively, had accumulated
little for him. But the aspiring youth hoped that before the
time when, by the rules of the College, he must take orders
or forfeit his fellowship, he should have made sufficient
progress at the bar to enable him to dispense with all
adventitious aid.
On the 19th day of May, 1794, he was admitted a member
of the Honom-able Society of Lincoln's Inn by the name and
designation of "John Singleton Copley of Trinity College,
Cam.bridge, Gentleman, eldest son of John Singleton Copley
of George Street, Hanover Square, in the county of j\Iiddle-
sex, Esq." His residence, however, was in the Temple,
which is chiefly haunted by the students of the Common
Law, the branch of the profession to A\hich he was destined.
As soon as he had finally left Cambridge he took chambers in
Crown Office Eow.
He soon after became a pupil of 3Ir. Tidd, the famous
Special Pleader, and having diligently worked in his chambers
tiU he was well conversant with everything, fi-om the J)e-
LIFE OF LORD LYXDHUEST. 11
claration to the Surrebutter, lie commenced Special Pleader CHAP.
under the bar on his own account.
Xow was the time when I made his acquaintance. He The author
still kept up a friendly intercom'se with Tidd, and attended a ^^'^^^^^tg^i
debatino; club ■s\ hich was held at his chambers in Kino-'s with him.
Bench Walk. When I entered here as a pupil, and was ^_d. iso3.
admitted a member of this club, I had the honour of being-
presented to 31r. Copley, to whom I looked up with the most
profound reverence and admiration. He was a capital
speaker, but rather too animated for dry juridical discussion.
I remember once he was so loud and long upon a question
arising out of the law of libel that the portei-s and laundresses
oathered round the window, in 2:i*eat numbers, listening to
his animated periods. At last a cry of lire being raised from
the crowd, the Temple fire-engine was actually brought out,
and had the effect of putting an end to the flaming oration
by raising a general laugh at the expense of the incendiary.
He was very kind to me, and although of much older
standing and much courted from his university reputation,
he would ask me to call upon him. In those days I never
met him in private society, but I did meet him not unfre-
quentlv at public dinners of a political complexion. In after
life he asserted that he had never been a Whig — which I
can testify to be true. He was a ^^■hig and something more,
or in one Mord a Jacobin. He would refuse to be present
at a dinner o-iven on the return of Mr. Fox for Westminster,
but he delighted to dine with the *'•' Corresponding Society,"
or to celebrate the anniversary of the acquittal of Hardy
and Home Tooke.
As a Special Pleader under the bar, his eloquence being of He attempt*
^ , . . to practise
no service, and a constant attendance at cnambers bemg as a special
expected, which was very distasteful to him, he had not the g^^^^'Jj'g J^^
success which he expected ; and he determined on being ^j^ ^^^^^-^
called to the bar. But before commencing his forensic in America,
career he embarked for America, having a strong desire to
revisit his native country, and to renew an intimacy with
some relations whom he had left there. With a view to this
ramble he had solicited and obtained at Cambridge the
appointment of Travelling Bachelor, and in compliance
12 REIGN OF GEOEGE III.
CHAP, -^ith the statutes lie remitted to the Yice-Chancellor an
ample account of Transatlantic cities and manners. This I
have in vain attempted to see, and I am afraid it is lost for
ever.* His narrative must be exceedingly interesting if it
detailed his personal adventures ; for he paid a visit of some
days to the illustrious Washington, and he travelled some
weeks in company with Louis Philippe — afterwards King of
the French — then a refugee in the United States.
* On my application to his College and to the University authorities, search
was made for these letters, but I was informed that they could nowhere be
found.
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 13
CHAPTEE 11.
AT THE BAK TILL HE WAS APPOINTED SOLICITOE GENERAL,
1804-1819.
As soon as possible after his return from America, Copley was CHAP,
called to the bar by the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn, and he
Mt. 32.
His slow
progress.
became a candidate for business in the Court of King's Bench jjg j^ ^.^^g^
and on the Midland Circuit. His professional progress was to the bar,
extremely sIoav. It used to be said that there were four, and i804,
only four, ways in which a young man could get on at the
bar : 1. By liuggerij. 2. By writing a law book. 3. By
quarter sessions. 4. By a miracle.
The first was successfully practised by that great nisi prius
leader Tom Tewkesbury, the hero of ' The Pleader's Guide,'
who not only gave dinners at his chambers to the attorneys,
but suppers to their clerks : —
" Nor did I not their clerks invite
To taste said venison hashed at night :
For well I knew that hopeful fry
My rising merit would descry."
But Copley, although by no means scrupulous about prin-
ciple, was above any sort of meanness, and always comported
himself as a gentleman. Although he behaved to attorneys
and their clerks with courtesy, and would talk very freely
with them, as with all the rest of mankind, he never would
flatter them, or court them, or make interest with them to
obtain business. 2. Park's book on the ' Law of Insurance,'
and Abbott's on the 'Law of Shipping,' had recently acquired
for their respective authors the reputation of deep mercantile
lawyers, and filled their bags with briefs at Guildhall. But
Copley had always a great contempt for authorship, and
would rather starve than disgrace himself by it. 3. He took
14 EEIGN OF GEOEGE III.
CHAP, to Quarter Sessions very cordially, and had success in poor-
' law cases, as well as in defending prisoners charged with petty
larcenies, but this did not extend his fame beyond the limits
of a single county, and even here, when the assizes came
round, he found himself postponed to juniors wdio had won
reputation as successful special pleaders in London, 4. The
miracle consists in the conjunction of an opportunity to make
a great speech in some very popular cause, with full ability
to improve the advantage. Such an opportunity, at last (as
we shall see), did arrive to Copley, and his fortune was made,
although witli the utter sacrifice of his character for political
consistency.
A.D. 1813. Meanwhile, finding that, after having been nine years at
He becomes ^he bar, his progress was very slow in a stuff gown, and that
a Serjeant- 7 , . , . .
at-iaw. he was not likely soon to gam such a position as entitled him
to ask to be made a King's Counsel, he resolved to take the
dignity of Serjeant-at-Law, supposed to be open suo ^ericulo
to any barrister of fair reputation and seven years' standing.
Accordingly he was coifed, and gave gold rings, choosing for
his motto " Studiis vigilare severis," which some supposed
was meant as an intimation that he had sow^n his wild oats,
and that he was now to become a plodder.
His joy at He remained, however, for a considerable time unchanged,
of\T^pofeon particularly in his devoted attachment to republican doc-
from Elba, trincs. Strange to say, his hero was Napoleon the Great,
who had established pure despotism in France, and wished to
extinguisli liberty in every other country. But Copley still
worshipped him, as when he was denominated by Mr. Pitt
" the child and the champion of Jacobinism," and fostered
some vague idea that when once all the existing governments
of Europe had been overturned, free institutions might follow.
He loudly deplored the disasters of the Eussian campaign in
1812, and felt deep sympathy with the fallen conqueror,
whoso dominions had afterwards shrunlv within the narrow
limits of the Isle of Elba. What then must have been his
raptures when he heard that Napoleon had escaped, had
landed at Cannes, and Avas marching triumphantly to Paris !
It is said that Copley, hearing this news while walking in
the street, enthusiastically tossed his hat in the air, and ex-
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 15
i'^aimed, " Eurojie is free ! " Nevertlieless I doubt not that CHAP.
lie rejoiced sincerely in the battle of Waterloo, for he has
always been solicitous for the interests and the glory of his a.d. 1815.
country.
At this period of his life he mixed little in general society.
The Tory leaders he utterly eschewed. Ho did make acquaint-
ance with some eminent Whigs, but thought poorly of them,
as theii' notions of reform were so limited. Although he would
not mix with the Kadicals of the day, who were men of low
education and vulgar manners^ he thought they might be
made useful, and by rumour he was so far known to them
that they looked forward to his patronage should they be
prosecuted by the Crown for sedition or treason.
At last arrived the crisis of Copley's fate, when a new and
brilliant career was opened to him, which he entered upon,
throwing aside the " Burden of his Principles " as joyfully as
Christian, in the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' got rid of the " Burden
of his Sins."
The general pacification of 1815 Avas by no means imme-
diately followed by the prosperity anticipated from it. The
exhaustion of capital during the war was severely felt ; the
derangement in the monetary system, occasioned by the Act
of 1797 for sanctioning an inconvertible paper circulation,
operated most mischievously both upon commerce and agri-
culture ; and, the artificial stimulus of exorbitantly high
prices being suddenly withdrawn, a general paralysis of in-
dustry was the consequence. Bad legislation and an unwise
severity in the executive government aggravated these evils.
With a view to keep up rents, the importation of foreign corn
was prohibited, and the system of Protection, now happily
exploded, was rigorously acted upon.
The labouring classes were thus thrown out of employ-
ment, and general discontent prevailed among them. Instead
of remedying the evil by allowing a free interchange of com-
modities with foreign countries, joenal laws were passed
forbidding public meetings and seeking to fetter the liberty
of the Press.
This was the time for dema^roOTes to flourish. Instead of
seeking a constitutional remedy in parliament, or trying
16 ' EEIGN OF GEORGE III.
CHAP, to enlighten the public mind, they strove to gain eminence
' and influence by exaggeration, misrepresentation, and the
A.D. 1817. application of physical force. One of these " Patriots " Avas a
certain Dr. Watson, a physician without patients, who col-
lected large assemblages of people in the Spa Fields, near
He is coun- London, and by speeches and placards was the cause of a
Dr. Watson, dangerous riot. He was apprehended, and brought to trial
hfrtrea- ^^^' ^^o^ trcasou, the charge mainly relied upon being, that he
son. had " levied war against the King."
The prosecution was ill-advised, as the proper course clearly
would have been to have indicted him for a misdemeanour,
in which case he must inevitably have been convicted, and
severely punished by fine and long imprisonment. But Lord
Liverpool and his colleagues thought it would strengihen
the government if they could make this out to be a case of
high treason, and so exhibit a spectacle of hanging and
beheading. The utmost importance was attached to the
result of the prosecution, and the ministers confessed that
they could hardly expect to survive a defeat.
The leading counsel for the Crown were the Attorney-
General, Sir Samuel Shepherd, a very sound lawyer, who,
had it not been for the infirmity of deafness, would have
filled the highest judicial stations, and the Solicitor General,
Sir Robert Gifford, who, on account of his supposed extraor-
dinary merit, had been lately appointed to that ofiice, while
wearing a stuff gown behind the bar.
Their opponents were curiously selected and matched.
The leader was Sir Charles Wetherell, a high-minded but
furious ultra-Tory, then breathing vengeance against the
government, because he had been disappointed in obtaining
the post of Solicitor General, to which, from his standing, his
talents, and his services, he had a strong claim. The other
was Mr. Serjeant Copley, generally understood to entertain
pretty much the opinions professed by the prisoner, though
Avith prudence sufficient not to act upon them till there
should be a fair prospect of their success.
The trial was at the bar of the Court of King's Bench at
Westminster, before Lord Ellenborough and his colleagues,
and began on the 9th of June, 1817. Among the distin-
LIFE OF LOED LYXDHUEST. 17
ffuislied men who sat on the Bench as auditors was Lord CHAP.
TT
Castlereagh, then leader of the House of Commons and '
the most efficient member of Lord Liverpool's Cabinet. a.d. 1817/
A clear case of aggravated riot was made out ; and, if a
spy was to be believed, there had been an organised plot to
take the Tower and to bring about a revolution. But this
spy, upon his own showing, was a man of infamous character,
and .he was contradicted by credible witnesses on the most
material parts of his testimony. Sir Charles Wetherell asked
the jury —
" Will yoTi suffer the purity of British jurisprudence to depend
upon the credit of that indescribable villain ? Will you add to
the blood-money he has already earned ? Will you encourage
the trade and merchandize of a man who lives on blood ? Will
you — the guardians and protectors of British law — will you suffer
death to be dealt out by him as he pleases ? Will you suffer a
human victim to be sacrificed on the testimony of that indescri-
bable villain ? But if you suffer it, I must add, will the British
public suffer it ? Will the people permit it? Vv'ill they tolerate
or endure it?"
The learned counsel had been too abrupt in his declama-
tion, and had not carried along with him the sympathies of
the jury, Avho seemed rather disposed to return an unpropitious
answer to these interrogatories.
Serjeant Copley, who followed, was much more calm. His speech
persuasive, and successful. I heard his speech with great so'ni^^ ^"'
delight, and I consider it one of the ablest and most effective
ever delivered in a court of justice. Yet, on re-perusing it, I
found much difficulty in selecting any passage which would
convey to the reader an idea of its merit. The whole is a
close chain of reasoning on the evidence as applicable to the
charge. Thus quietly does he begin : —
" I have been called upon to assist as counsel in a cause which
in the circumstances with which it is attended, and in the conse-
quences to which it may lead, is one of the most important that
has ever occurred in the history of the jurisprudence of this
country ; a cause of infinite importance to the prisoner at the
bar, whose life and character — everything that can be valuable
to him as a man and as a member of the community — are at
issue and depend upon your verdict."
VOL. VIII. C
18 EEIGN OF GEOEGE III.
^HAP. After taking a softened view of the tumultuous proceedings
which the prisoner had instigated and sanctioned, he conceded
A.D. 1817. that they might amount to a riot : —
" But," said he, " let me again remind you that, although there
may have been a riot and a dangerous riot, it does not follow
that war has been levied '"against the King in his realm. In
order to constitute a treasonable riot there must have been a
deliberate purpose and design to overturn the Governrpent.
Under Lord George Goidon there were forty or fifty thoiisand
men marching in columns with colours flying and military music
up to the doors of the House of Commons, and afterwards main-
taining their possession of the capital for a fortnight. Lord
George Gordon was indeed tried for treason, but he was ac-
quitted because, however improper or mischievous his conduct,
the jury were of opinion (and it was put fairly to them by Lord
Mansfield) that he had in view no treasonable object."
When Serjeant Copley observed that, by his skilful treat-
ment of a part of the case most relied upon by the Crown, he
had made a deej) impi-ession on the jury, he added, with an
air of seeming humility and sincerity, —
" I wish I could state it with half the strength with which
I feel it. But the prisoner in selecting me as one of his
counsel on this occasion gives the strongest evidence of the con-
viction he feels of the goodness of his cause. He must have
known that I possessed no powers of eloquence, and little of the
skill of an advocate. He must have la:own that I could onl}^
proceed in a straightforward course, pursuing the subject in a
plain way, and holding up the facts truly to the jurj-, leaving
them to draw their own conclusion in favour of his inno-
cence."
Having gone over all the topics which the defence pre-
sented, seemingly without any plan, but according to the
most consummate rules of art, he conformed to the Kubric,
which in the ' Service for High Treason ' requires a final
prayer that the jury may be directed by Heaven to a right
verdict ; but he made it short and pithy : —
" Let me then conclude by fervently praying that Providence
which enlightens the minds of men and pours the spirit of truth
and justice into their hearts will dispense that light and spiiit
to you in the discharge of the great duty which is cast upon you.
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 19
From the attention yon have paid to the evidence I can only CHAP.
anticipate a favourable result, and although you cannot approve
of all the prisoner has said or done, you will without hesitation ,o,_
^ . . ' A,D. 181 1.
acquit him of this weighty and unfounded charge."
The Solicitor General made a clever reply, and Lord
EUenborough summed up strongly for a conviction ; but the
jury, after a short deliberation, found a verdict of Not Guilty.
Lord Castlereagli, who had remained in court in a state Excites the
of great anxiety till the conclusion of the trial, declared of Lord
to the witty Jekyll, whom he met accidentally the follow- ^'astieieagii,
ing day, that " if Serjeant Copley had been for the Crown caught in a
the prosecution would have succeeded ;" and expressed a ijafi^j'^ith
Avisli that he mioht never be against the Crown again. The Cheshire
. . . cheese.
answ^er was, " Bait your rat-trap with Cheshire cheese, and
lie ^'ill soon be caught." The objection to the joke is that it
was rather obvious ; for the office of Chief Justice of Chester
had been so often successfully used to induce adventuring
lawyers to leave their party, that a man of much inferior
powers might have given the same recipe for catching
Copley.
Lord Castlereagli, who was a matter-of-fact man, took the
advice in good earnest, and, having consulted Lord Liver-
pool, the Premier, obtained his sanction for opening a nego-
tiation to secure Copley to the Government. Lord Eldon,
the Chancellor, was not consulted on the subject ; and it is
a curious circumstance that, notwithstanding his great power
in making: and unmakin;? ministries, he never interfered in
the appointment of the law officers of the Crown.*
A communication was immediately made to Copley through
the medium of an eminent solicitor with whom he was inti-
mate. In the overture nothing was said about Chester, or
any other appointment ; but a seat in the House of Commons
for a Government borough was proposed without any express
* "Ulicn Copley afterwards -was actually sworn in Solicitor General, Lord
Eldon declared that he had never before spoken to him or seen him.
According to another statement circulated in "Westminster Hall, I^rd
Castlereagli is supposed to have said spontaneously at the conclusion ol
Copley's speech, " I can discover in him something of the rat, and I will set
my trap for him, baited with Cheshire cheese "
c 2
20 EEIGN OF GEORGE HI.
CHAP.
II.
condition or promise as to services or reward ; nevertheless,
witli the clear reciprocal nnderstanding that the convertite
A.D. 1817. was thenceforth to be a thick and thin supporter of the
Government, and that everything in the law which the
Government had to bestow should be within his reach.
This was a terrible temptation into which he was led.
The chance of a Jacobinical revolution had passed away, and
there did not seem a possibility of the Whigs coining into
office during the life of the Eegent, who heartily hated them,
having basely betrayed them. The Serjeant was. ambitious,
and he was conscious of possessing great powers if he should
have an opportunity of displaying them in Parliament. But,
per contra, this would be considered a very flagrant case
of ratting, because his opinions on the Liberal side were
known to be extreme, although he had never formally at-
tached himself to any party, whereas the existing Govern-
ment was conducted on very arbitrary principles, so that the
defence of its measures must require a considerable sacrifice
of conscience.
In the seventeenth year of the reign of Queen Victoria,
when party distinctions are almost obliterated, it is difficult to
understand the state of feeling in the end of the reign of
George III., when conflicting political creeds were nearly as
well defined as religious, and the transit of a man of any
eminence from the opposition to the government side caused
as great a sensation as the perversion of a popular Protestant
divine to the Church of Rome. Copley must have been
well aware of the odium, of the animadversions, of the sar-
casms, of the railleries, which aw^aited him. Another Regulus,
he braved them all — with this difference, that he had to con-
sider not what dutrj but what interest demanded.
Out of decency, he asked a little time to deliberate.
Although very free spoken upon almost all subjects, this is a
passage of his life which he always shuns, and it would be
vain to conjecture whether he had any and wdiat internal
struggles before he yielded.
A\'hen the negotiation had been completed he had a formal
interview with Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister, and
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 21
■\vitliout a sliilling being put into his liand or anything being CHAP.
said about his Mt, he was enlisted and attested a soldier in '
the Tory army. a.d. 1817.
Soon after, the 'London Gazette' announced that "John He is re-
Singleton Copley, Esq., serjeant-at-law, was returned to Parliament
serve in Parliament for Yarmouth, in the Isle of Wight." ^°'" ^
1 T • n r- 1 m s;overnmeQt
ihis w^as a borough then under the mnuence 01 the ireasury, borough,
and afterwards disfranchised by the Eeform Act. Not '^'^"^' ^^'
liaving been before in Parliament, he escaped the disgrace of
walking across the floor of the House, and fronting his
former associates. For some time he prudently avoided any
display to attract notice, and he made no " maiden speech."
He first broke silence in the House bv a few observations in
support of the practice, now abandoned and universally con-
demned, of giving rewards to witnesses upon the conviction
of offenders : — " He entered his protest against the broad
assertion hazarded by an honourable member that the system
of granting rewards had been productive of great confusion
throughout the country. He himself," he said, "had been
engaged for fourteen years on the Midland Circuit, and had
never known a single instance to justify such a statement." *
How^ever, he soon showed that he was resolved to con- He becomes
sider only how he could best please his employers. A Bill o/aiu°he ^
was pendino; to continue the Alien Act, whereby the Govern- measures of
. . . . . . '""i ultra-
ment was authorised, at their free will and without assigning Tory go-
any cause, to send out of the country all wlio were not natural '*^^"™^" •
born subjects, however long or however peaceably they might
have resided under the allegiance of the English (?rown.
The measure was strongly opposed by Sir Samuel Romilly
and Sir James Mackintosh as arbitrary, unconstitutional, and
in time of peace wholly unnecessary. However, Ministers
having staked their existence on carrying it, thus was it
defended by him who had hitherto been the professed admirer
and eulogist of the French Kevolution : —
" Let the House examine for a moment what sort of persons
they were about to admit, if they rejected the Bill. They were
about to harbour in this coiantry a set of persons from the conti-
* 38 Hansard, 510.
A.D. 1818.
22 KEIGN OF GEORGE III.
CHAP, nent, wlio were educated in and wlio had supported all the hor-
rors of the French Eevolution ; — persons who were likely to
extend in this country that inflamed and turbulent spirit by
which they themselves were actuated — persons who did not
possess either morality or principle, and who could not be
expected to respect those qualities in this country."
There seems to have been a tempest of ironical clieers
from the opposition benches, prompted by some knowledge
of the antecedents of the orator. This was a very critical
moment for him — but his audacity triumphed : —
" I have expressed," said he, in a calm lowered voice, " and I
will repeat the opinions which I have deliberately formed, and
which I conscientiously entertain on this question. I am aware
that these opinions are distasteful to some honourable Members
on the other side of the House, who perhaps think that our
institutions might be improved by a little Jacobinical admixture.
[Loud cheers and counter-cheers.] I repeat that I express my-
self as I feel, and I shall never be disturbed by any clamour
raised on the other side of the House meant to question my
sincerity ; for there is not any one who truly knows me but is
aware that the observations I have made are the result of my
conviction as to the line of conduct which ought to be pursued
on this occasion. If no Alien Bill existed there might and pro-
babl}^ would be an influx of persons whose principles and views
are alarming to all who love the regulated freedom which we
enjoy. I know that the great mass of the English population
are well affected to the laws of England ; but all in the House
must be aware — and if not, the eyes and ears of Members are
shut — that there still exist in England disaffected persons ready
to disturb its quiet, — persons who, forming a junction with dis-
affected foreigners, may be stimulated and encouraged to acts
of disturbance and outrage. I am not so hazardous a politician
as to throw an additional quantity of combustible matter into
the country in order to see how much we can bear without
exploding. I do not wish to make the experiment as to the
quantity of fresh poison which may be inhaled without destroying
the constitution. In 1793 similar arguments to those of the
honourable gentlemen opposite had been used, but Parliament by
disregarding them saved us from those horrors which a reckless
clamour for liberty had conjured up in another country." *
The implied promise for such services was duly performed,
* 3S Hansard, 820.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUKST. 23
.and Best, afterwards created Lord Wynford, wlio had pre- CHAP.
viously been rewarded for deserting his party by the Chief "
Justiceship of Chester, having resigned that office on being a.d. i818.
raised to the bench in Westminster Hall, it was conferred on He is made
the new renegade, who had already had a slight foretaste ticeofChes-
of ministerial favour in being created a King's serjeant. t*-'!"
" The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge."
Immediately proceeding on the circuit, he displayed those
extraordinary powers and qualities which might have made
him the very greatest magistrate who has presided in an Eng-
lish court of Justice during the present century. But, ad-
mired and praised by all who saw and heard him clothed in
scarlet and ermine, Copley cared for none of these things,
and he was impatient to finish his business in Denbighshire,
Flintshire, and Cheshire, that he might get back to St.
Stephen's to prosecute his ambitious schemes, for which the
times seemed so propitious. His name is now to be found in
the list of the ministerial majority in every division, and he
• could be relied upon in every emergency of debate, doubtless
saying to himself, " the sailor who looks for high salvage
and prize money must be ready to go out in all weathers."
As a matter of course, upon the first vacancy he Avas made and Soli-
Solicitor General to the King, and he regularly became a ,^i_
member of Lord Liverpool's government. He talked rather ^•^- ^^^^'
licentiously of his chief and of his colleagues, but he very
steadily co-operated with them in all their measures, good or
bad. From the beginning Lord Eldon had an instinctive
dislike to him, and seems to have had a presentiment that
the man had at last appeared who was to turn him out of
office. The worthy old-fashioned Peer, who had been a
sincere and bigofed Tory all his life, could not look with
benignity on one who, he was credibly informed, had danced
round the Tree of Liberty to the tune of Qa ira, and he
(leclared that he had no faith in political conversions.
Copley always behaved to him respectfully, but showed no
earnestness to cultivate him, knowing that he did not hold
• of the Chancellor, and that the Chancellor's long tenure of
•office must of necessity ere long come to a conclusion.
24
EEIGN OF GEOEGE III.
CHAP.
II.
A.D. 1819,
His gi-eat
success in
his new
career.
Unhappy
fate of a bro-
ther RAT.
His mai-
riaee.
Mr. Solicitor's great mortification was to find liimself
serving under Gifford, the Attorney General, Lis junior in
standing and greatly his inferior in acquirements and oratory.
He now transferred himself from the Court of Common Pleas,
where he had practised since he became a serjeant, to the
Court of King's Bench, where there is more profitable busi-
ness. But, althougli he had precedence here, Gifford having
stationed himself in the Court of Chancery as a school for
the woolsack, he had not the first practice. This was retained
by Scarlett, who (take him for all in all) was the most
formidable champion for his opponent I have ever known at
the English bar, and who was at this time irresistible from
the entire ascendancy he had acquired over Lord Chief Jus-
tice Tenterden, the presiding Judge.
Mr. Solicitor's position, however, now appeared very
prosperous. His spirited and noble bearing had secured him
a favourable hearing in the House of Commons, and his
very agreeable manners had made him popular with all
branches of the profession of the law. Isor did he seem to
suffer from any unpleasant conciousness of having acted
questionably, or from any suspicion that he might be ill
thought of by others. His gait was always erect, his eye
sparkling, and his smile proclaiming his readiness for a jest.
How different his fate from that of poor Charles Warren,
who had only been " a Whig and nothing more." After being
for years petted by the Whigs, their destined Attorney General,
and possessed of such celebrity as a " diner out " that he would
not accept an invitation till he had a list of the company he
was to meet, — in an evil hour he too afterwards ratted, being
made Chief Justice of Chester ; but he could not stand the
reproachful looks and ironical cheers of his former friends
in the House of Commons, and he soon *died of a broken
heart —
" Hie crucem pretium sceleris tulit, liic diadema."
I am now to present Sir John Copley in a new light — as a
man of fashion. Hitherto his converse with the gay world had
been very limited ; he had seldom been in higher society than
at a Judge's dinner in Bedford Square ; he himself generally
dined at a coffee-house, and when the labours of the day were
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUEST. 25
over he solaced liimself in the company of his friends in CHAP.
Crown Office Kow. But he now fell in love with a beautiful '
young widow, whose husband, Lieut.-Colonel Thomas, had a.d. 1819.
been killed in the battle of Waterloo. She was the niece
of Sir Samuel Shepherd, the late Attorney General, at whose
house he first met her. She received his attentions favour-
ably, and they were married on the 13th of March, 1819.
Forthwith he set up a brilliant establishment in his Hjsdomestic
father's old house, George-street, Hanover-square, which he
greatly enlarged and beautified. Lady Copley was exceed-
ingly handsome, with extraordinary enterprise and clever-
ness. She took the citadel of fashion by storm, and
her concerts and balls, attended by all the most distin-
guished persons who could gain the honour of being pre-
sented to her, reflected back new credit and influence on
her enraptured husband. There were afterwards jealousies
and bickerings between them, which caused much talk and
amusement; but they continued together on decent terms
till her death at Paris in 1834 — an event which he sincerely
lamented. He was sitting as Chief Baron in the Court of
Exchequer when he received the fatal news. He swallowed
a large quantity of laudanum and set off to see her remains.
But his strength of mind soon again fitted him for the duties
and pleasures of life.
26 REIGN OF GEOEGE III.
CHAPTEE III.
SOLICITOR GENERAL — ATTORNEY GENERAL — MASTER OF THE
ROLLS. 1819-1827.
CHAP. giR Joliu Copley continued Solicitor General five years,
' doing his official duty in Court very ably and unexcep-
A.D. 1819. tionably, but supporting all the measures of Government in
Parliament ^Yith an ostentatious contempt of public opinion.
He was quite satisfied with the consolation that the Govern-
ment was strong, and that while it lasted his promotion was
secure.
Trial of the During this long period the only great State prosecution
Cato street ^|^^ Avhich arose out of the Cato street Conspiracy,
conspirators. i ? i
which looked like a travesty of 'Venice Preserved, but
was a real and very detestable plot, to begin with the murder
of all the fifteen members of the Cabinet when assembled at
a Cabinet dinner. Thistlewood, a half-pay officer, who in-
duced a number of mechanics and clowns to join with him
in his scheme of liberation, was first brought to trial, and a
clear case was made out against him. Mr. Solicitor General
replied, and satisfied himself with calmly and clearly reca-
pitulating the evidence, and showing that it substantiated
the charge of high treason. In some of the other cases he
opened the prosecution to the jury in the same tone as if
he had been conducting an action for " goods sold and de-
livered," to which no defence could be set up. Convictions
were obtained without difficulty, and five of the jarisoners
actually suffered death according to the sentence pronounced
upon them.
Qy. shouii This is the last instance of capital punishment being
K ^capital actually inflicted for the crime of high treason in these
oftence? realms. Frost and his associates were convicted of high
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 27
treason at Monmouth wlien I was Attorney General, they ^^{j^'
having engaged in a very formidable armed insurrection and
taken the town of Newport by storm. I succeeded, against a.d. i819.
the opinion of several members of the Cabinet, in having
their sentence commuted to transportation for life, because a
question had been raised upon which the Judges were nearly
equally divided, as to the regularity of the procedure pre-
paratory to their trial. Again, Smith O'Brien was convicted
of high treason in Ireland when I was a member of the
Cabinet, oruidinir the deliberations of the Government in such
matters. He was clearly guilty in point of law and fact too ;
but his rebellion was so ludicrously absurd that I thought it
would take away all dignity and solemnity from the punish-
ment of death if it should be inflicted upon him, and my
advice was followed in offering him a pardon on condition of
transportation. So foolish was he, that he denied the power
of the Crown to commute the sentence without his consent;
and he insisted on being immediately liberated, — or hanged,
beheaded, and quartered. I was actually obliged to bring-
in and push a Bill through Parliament (against which he
petitioned) to sanction the conditional pardon ; and under this
he is still an exile in the southern hemisphere.* But, upon
a satisfactory conviction in a real and serious case of high
treason, I am clearly of opinion that capital punishment is
proper. The temptation to ambitious and unprincipled men
to engage in revolutionary plans which may at once give
them power and fame is not adequately met by the mere
dread of lengthened imprisonment in case of failure, and one
of the conditions on which resistance may be justifiable is
that it is successful.
I must now submit to the painful task of exhibiting Mv. '^^^^^^'^/^^^^
Solicitor Copley as a politician. Antigallican Toryism — sovomment
generated by the French Eevolution — althougli near its end, 'll^Jl^"^l'
was still in morbid vigour, and exhibited most alarming and the reign of
-, ■ rni 11 • rii • T 1 tieorge IIL
revoltnig symptoms, llie old genume lories i very much
respect. They carried to excess their desire of defending
what they considered the just privileges of the Church and
* August, 1858. He has since received a free pardon, and been permitted to
return to Ireland, where, on account of his folly, he is harmless.
28
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
CHAP.
III.
A.u. 1819.
November.
Part taken
by Lord
Lyndhurst,
when Soli-
citor Gene-
ral, in sup-
port of this
arbitrary
policy.
prei'ogative of tlie Crown, but they were by no means
hostile to an improvement in our institutions. They stood
up for triennial Parliaments, and from the Treaty of Utrecht
to that concluded by ]\Ir. Pitt with France in 1787 they
always supported the cause of " free trade " against tlie Pro-
tectionist Whigs.
The terror of innovation inspired by the French Eevo-
lution entirely changed the nature of the Tories, and made
them passionately cherish every abuse. Lord Eldon, the
Chancellor, was the venerable impersonation of this per-
verted Toryism ; and he still held uncontrolled sway. The
consequence was, a violent conflict between public opinion
and the authority of the Government. Discontent some-
times broke out in licentious publications from the press, and
sometimes in tumultuary assemblages of th« people. These
were met, not by concession and reform, but by a furious
extension of the criminal law and by military execution.
Now came the " Manchester Massacre," or the " Battle of
Peterloo," * when a meeting which was certainly unlawful
was as certainly dispersed by unlawful means and with un-
necessary cruelty. However, all the excesses of magistrates
and soldiers were defended and eulogised by the Secretary of
State, and Parliament was suddenly summoned to pass new-
laws in restraint of public liberty. In the debate on the
Address to the Prince Eegent Mr. Solicitor took a prominent
part, boldly justifying all that had been done at Manchester
by the civil and military authorities, and asking whether it
could be supposed that his learned friend the Attorney
General and himself had advised his Majesty's ministers to
resort to martial violence against the people ? Mr. Scarlett
calmly answered, that " from all he had known of his honour-
able and learned friend he believed him incapable of such
conduct, unless, indeed, his ojnnions had lately undergone a
very material change." t
The famous Six Acts were passed. Fortunately, they
have all long ago either expired or been repealed. While
they were upon the Statute-Book the Constitution was sus-
* So called from the place near Manchester where the meeting was held,
t 41 Hansard, 173.
LIFE OP LOED LTNDHURST. 29
pended, oral discussion was interfered witli not only at county CHAP.
meetings but in debating clubs and pbilosopliical societies, '
and no man could venture to write upon political or tlieolo- a.d. 1819.
gical subjects except at the peril of being transported beyond
the seas as a felon.
These Acts were carried through the House of Commons
by Copley. Gifford was still Attorney General, but had not
nerve for heading the encounter, he too having in his youth
professed liberal principles, although with much more mode-
ration than his colleague. On the second reading- of "The
Seditious Meetings Prevention Bill," they resorted to the
expedient of Mr. Solicitor apologising for his coming forward
as leader to explain and support it in a very elaborate speech
by pretending that the task unexpectedly devolved upon him
from the sudden indisposition of his honourable and learned
colleague, which he had only heard of since he came into
the House. On this occasion Mr. Solicitor resorted to that
which had become his favourite theme — the horrors of the
French Eevolution : —
" It had been said by some honourable gentlemen that the
disease was merely local. Good God ! was it possible that those
by whom such an assertion was made had entirely forgotten what
had already occurred in the world ? "Was all the experience
derived from the course and progress of the French Eevolution
to be lost to the world ? Who did not know that at the com-
mencement of that revolution a large part of France was not
alienated from the existing Government? Who did not know
that it was only in the great manufacturing and populous dis-
tricts in France that disaffection originally manifested itself, and
that to the inertness of the friends of monarchy in the other
parts of that kingdom the deplorable consequences that followed
were attributable ? "
Having observed that the anti-revolutionary measures pro-
posed by the Government could only be judged of properly
when viewed as a whole, he went over all the Six seriatim,
lauding them as mild when compared with the evils which
they were to remedy. Thus he concluded : —
" The gentlemen on the other side were always advising the
Ministry to try the effects of conciliation. There was every dis-
position on the part of Ministers to conciliate the honest, the
A.D. 1819.
30 EEIGN OF GEORGE III.
CHAP. well-disposed, and the loyal ; iliere was no disposition to exercise
coercion on them. But how were Ministers to conciliate these
reformers who were drawing the sword against constitutional
anthorit}' ? It would he weakness to attempt it. They' were
not men to be conciliated. To offer conciliation would be to
succumb — would be to give a triumph to the disaffected, and
an encouragement to them to rally round the banners of se-
dition."*
In a subsequent debate on what was called " The Blasphe-
mous Libel Bill," the Marquis of Tavistock alluded to the
manner in which the Solicitor General in his former, perhaps
he might call them his Jess prudent days, hal indulged in
expressing his feelings : —
Mr. Solicitor General — " I would ask the noble Lord on what
grounds be brings charges against me for my former conduct ?
"Why am I taunted with inconsistency? I never, before my
entrance into this House, belonged to any political society, or
was in any way connected with politics ; and even if I had
intended to connect myself with any pai'ty, I confess that
during my short parliamentary expei'ience I have seen nothing
in the vieios of the gentlemen ojiposite to induce me to join
them." t
This harangue was delivered from the Treasury Bench,
and was received with derision by the Whig leaders to whom
it was addressed. At the conclusion Mackintosh whispered
to Lord John Russell, who sat next to him, " The last
sentence, Avith the change of one word for a synonyme,
would have been perfectly true. But, instead of quarrelling
with our views, he should have said that he did not like our
jyrospedsr %
Although what Copley said of his not being actually an
admitted member of any political party before he entered
Parliament was true to the letter, he was aware that all who
heard him knew he was gainsaying all the opinions and senti-
ments which he had before entertained and expressed ; and
that he would have supported with equal zeal measures, if
possible, more obnoxious at the will of the Minister He
* 41 HansarJ, GOT. t JK 1438.
J Lord Jolm Rut-seirs i^reface to vol. vi. of his ' Life of Moore.'
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUEST. 31
was accordingly compared to the mercenary soldier ready to CIIAP
obey every command of his superior officer, and exclaiming —
III.
" Pectore si fratris gladium juguloque parentis a.d. 1820.
Condero me jubeas . . .
. . . iuvita peragam tameii omnia dextra."
The Bills were all carried by large majorities, and for a
time we could not be said to live in a free country. But an
explosion was at hand which, when it burst forth, caused the
Six Acts to be forgotten.
On the 30th of January, 1820, died George III., in the Death of
sixtieth year of his reign. As he had long been civillv dead, ^'^?"S'^ ^^\'
■^ " ° •' ' and arrival
although his efiSgy was still placed upon the coin and the of Queen
government was administered in his name, this event would Euind."^
have caused little sensation, and would hardly have produced
any change in the aspect of public affairs, had it not been
that while the power of the Kegent (become George IV.)
remained as it was, Caroline of Brunswick was now Queen of
England, and, unless some proceedings were instituted against
her, entitled to all the rights and privileges of t-hat exalted
station.
Her husband, who would sooner have renounced his throne
than shared it Avith her, had been collecting evidence to prove
her guilty of conjugal infidelity, and now intimated that tliis
would immediately be brought forward against her, unless
she would consent to live abroad as a private individual, upon
a liberal allowance to be settled upon her. Having rejected
this offer Avith contempt, she entered London amidst the
plaudits of the populace, and his Majesty declared war
a,gainst her by laying a green bag, containing the criminatory
evidence, on the table of both Houses of Parliament.
In the scandalous and ill-judged proceedings which followed, The (Queen's
Copley was not at all to blame. He was not consulted on *"'^ '
the expediency of bringing the Queen to an open trial ; he
never spoke upon the subject in the House of Commons, and
when the Divorce Bill was introduced into the House of
Lords, he strictly confined himself to his professional duty as
an advocate, in ti-ying to prove the allegation of adultery
which the preamble of the Bill contained. The Queen's
Attorney and Solicitor General having obtained leave from
32 EEIGN OF GEORGE IV.
CHAP, the House of Commons to appear at the bar of the House of
'__ Lords as advocates against the Bill, similar leave was given
A.D. 1820, to the King's Attorney and Solicitor General to support it.
In the forensic contest which ensued, Copley appeared to
great advantage compared with Gifford, his colleague, who,
though naturally acute and shrewd, now lamentably exposed
his defective education, and proved that his sudden and
unexpected rise was a mere frolic of fortune.*
iviTsolicftor Copley chiefly distinguished himself in the reply. This,
Copley upon the whole, greatly delighted the King, although his
O'ueen. Majesty was somewhat offended by the banter and persiflage
in which the counsel occasionally indulged to a degree hardly
suitable to the solemnity of the occasion and the dignity of
the royal personages on whose conduct he commented. His
chief resource was to excite the jaded attention, and to chase
the growing ennui of his hearers, by humorous quotations
and striking analogies. In pressing the topic of the rapid
promotion of Bergami by the Queen from being a common
courier, wearing livery, to a high office in her household, he
asked : —
"Is it possible that we can shut our eyes to the inference
which must of necessity be drawn ? What are the services thus
rewarded ? One of the best dramatic authors, in speaking upon
subjects of this kind, has given us this solution ; for your Lord-
ships will find that it is put into the mouth of a Eoman Empress
in a situation, and under circumstances, which I will not de-
scribe : —
' Thread-bare chastity
Was poor in the advancement of her creatures ;
Wantonness — magnificent.' "
In commenting upon the fact that, in travelling, Bergami's
room in the hotels they visited was always next hers, and on
the explanation of her counsel, that it was for her protection,
and to guard against surprise, Copley thus raised a rather
indecorous laugh : —
" Oh ! all this was intended to guard against surprise, against
* I regret to be obliged to speak thus slightingly of a veiy amiable man.
To him no blame was to be imputed in any part of his career. He retieived
his various promotions without solicitation or intrigue, and although they were
jobs, they were tlie jobs of others, to whom his elevation was convenient.
A.D. 1S20,
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 33
some danger with which she was threatened. Are we to be led CHAP,
away by the confident assertions of counsel ? I look around to ^^^'
see whether I can possibly discover to what my learned friend
refers, or from what source he takes the idea of a ' surprise.' I
have not been able to discover it, except in a grave author with
whose writings I know him to be very conversant. In Foote's
' Trip to Calais,' I see something like a hint for this. MiniJcen,
the chambermaid, and O'Donovan, the Irish chairman, are discus-
sing the extraordinary friendship of Sir Henry Hornby for their
mistress, and the protection he afforded her, which had caused
much scandal, but which he thus explains away —
" ' My Lord was obliged to go about his affairs into the North for
a moment, and left his disconsolate lady behind him in London.'
" Minihen. — ' Poor gentlewoman ! '
" 0' Donovan. — ' Upon which his friend Sir Henry used to go
and sta}^ there all day, to amuse and divert her ! '
" Minihen. — ' How goodnatured that was in Sir Henry !'
" 0' Donovan. — ' Nay ; he carried his friendship much farther than,
that ; for my Lady, as there were many highwaymen and footpads
about, was afraid that some of them would break into the house in
the night, and so desired Sir Heniy Hornby to be there every night.'
" Minihen. — ' Good soul ! and I suppose he consented.' "
The Solicitor General's speech, which lasted two days, was
thus concluded : —
" In retiring from your Lordships' bar we should be guilty of
the greatest ingratitude if we did not make to your Lordships
our acknowledgments for the kindness which we have experi-
enced at your Lordships' hands. Never came a cause into a
Court of Justice in which there was so much anxiety with
respect to every step in its progress, and with respect to its final
result. Every passion has been successfully appealed to in the
conduct of the defence by my learned friends on the other side.
They have well and faithfully discharged their duty to their
illustrious client. We make no comj)laint of their conduct. We
rejoice to see such talents exercised in the defence of a Queen of
England. My Lords, my learned friends have endeavoured to
awaken successively all the sympathies and all the passions of
your nature. They have even appealed to the basest of all pas-
sions — the passion of fear. In this high and august assembly,
the elite, if I may so express myself, of a nation renowned for its
firmness and intrepidity, my learned friends have appealed to
the passion of fear. You are told by one of my learned friends
that if you pass this Bill into a law, you will commit an act of
VOL. VIII. D
A.D. lS-20.
S4 - EEIGN OF GEORGE IV.
CHAP, suicide. Another of mv learned friends tells vou tliat ' vou are
III ' • ' "■ •
to pass the Bill at voixr peiil I ' These words hnng upon the lips
of mj learned friend for a time sufficiently long to be under-
stood ; and they were afterwards alFectedly withdrawn. I know,
my Lords, that you will not dare to do anything that is unjust.
At the same time I know that what justice requires you will do,
without regard to any personal consideration that may aflect
yoiu'selves. But, my Lords, it is not in this place alone that
these arts have been resorted to. The same course has been
pursued out of doors ; the same threats have been held out, and
every attempt has been made to overawe and intimidate the de-
cision of your Lordships. Even the name of her Majesty herself
has been profaned for this purpose. In her name, but undoubtedly
w-ithout her sanction, attacks of the most direct nature have been
made against all that is sacred and venerable in this empire
— against the constitution — against the sovereign — against the
hierarchy — against all orders of the State. My Lords, this could
not proceed from her Majesty. Her name must have been made
use of by persons aiming, under the sanction and shield of that
name, at some dark and pernicious designs. BeKeAang other-
wise, my Lords, we must imagine that her Majesty was aiming
at the overthrow of the government of the countiy, to be replaced
by revolutionary anarchy —
dum Capitolio
Eegina dementes ruinas,
Funus et imperio parabat,
might in that case become a new sera with our posterity. My
Lords, if, having considered the whole case, you should have
the strongest conviction on your mind that the Queen is guilt}'
of the charges which are imputed to her in this Bill, but you
should think that in strictness there is not legal proof on which
you can judicially act, I admit that you must adopt the language
suggested by my learned friend Mr. Denman, and say ' Go asd
SIX X'O MORE.' But, my Lords, if, bending your minds earnestly
to the contemplation of the evidence, and drawing from it as
Judges, as men of understanding and men of honom-, its just and
legitimate conclusion, the case is made out so strongly, so fully,
and in a manner so satisfactoiy as to leave no reasonable doubt
upon your Lordships' minds, then, my Lords, knowing what I
do of the tribunal I am now addressing, I am sui-e you will j)ro-
nounce your decision on this momentous question with that
firmness which is consonant with 3-our exalted station."*
Hansard, X. S., vol. iii. See ' lives of Chancellors/ vol. vii. cliap. 204.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 35
I need not mention that, altliousxb tlie second readinir of CHAP.
. . Ill
the Bill was carried by a small majority, it was afterwards '
withdrawn by his Ministers, to the great disgust of the Sove- a.d. i820-
reigu, who had ever after a grudge against them, and a liking ^^'^'
for Copley, in return for his vigorous support of it.*
No change took place in the law officers under the Govern- He still
ment for the three following years. During this period Copley °^^°g^ion
spoke in the House of Commons not unfrequently, but it was ^^ the penal
only officially, as was expected of an Attorney or Solicitor all law
General in the old regime, in defending all arbitrary acts of amendment.
the executive Government, and opposing all attempts to im-
prove our laws. He was particularly zealous in denouncing
kSh* James Mackintosh's Bill for taking away capital punish-
ment from the offence of forgery ; and in an elaborate speech
he tried to prove that such a measure would be fatal to paper
credit, and to the commerce of the country.f Than such an
exhibition nothing can more strikingly illustrate the odious-
ness of the system of government which happily was then
drawing to a close, for Copley himself was enlightened and
humane, and when he was at liberty to act according to his
own feelings, Avithout offending his superiors or endangering
his own advancement, he was disposed to take the liberal
side on every question, and to assist in mitigating the barba-
rous severity of our penal code.
At last, on Gifford succeeding Sir Vicary Gibbs as Chief O'^^- 1'^24.
He becomes
Justice of the Common Pleas, Copley became Attorney Attorney
General. Since the time of Thurlow and Wedderburn no G'^i^'^'-
Attorney General had been in the House of Commons so
prominent a member of the Government. Yet, after a diligent
search in Hansard, I can find no speech of his at this period of
his career which would now be found interesting.
The topic which then agitated the public, and on which
* On the reassembliug of Parliament in January, 1821, Copley further
showed his zeal on the King's side, by a speech against the motion to censure
the omission of the Queen's name from the Liturgy, saying, "His impression
was, that no person could agree with the present motion without being alike
an enemy to the monarch and the monarchy." A motion was made to take
down these words ; but they were explained away so as, without spoiling
their pith, to get rid of the charge of being disorderly. — Hansard, vol.
iv. 199.
t Hansard, N. S., v. 895.
D 2
36
KETGN OF GEOEGE IV.
OHAP.
III.
A.D. 1824-
1826.
His views
upon the
question of
Catholic
Emancipa-
tion.
His speech
against the
Prisoners'
Counsel
Bill.
the people, and the Parliament, and the Cabinet were nearly
equally divided, was " Catholic Emancipation." This topic
Copley as yet had cautiously avoided, uncertain which side
was likely to prevail. There were very contradictory rumours
respecting the private inclinations of George IV. The Duke
of York, heir presumptive to the crown, had publicly made a
vow that he never would consent to the measure — but his life
was considered very precarious, and there was little chance of
his surviving the reigning sovereign. Lord Liverpool, the
Prime Minister, although he had steadily opposed fm'ther con-
cession to the Catholics, had done so with much moderation,
and he had allowed their admission to Parliament to be an
" open question." Lord Eldon and Peel were stanch anti-
Catholics ; but the former was declining fast in political influ-
ence, and the latter had given alarming signs of a tendency
to liberalism. On the other hand, Canning, leader of the
House of Commons since the death of Lord Castlereagh, with
a rising reputation, was a zealous and sincere emancipator.
If Copley had acted according to his own secret wishes, he
would have both voted and spoken for the bill to allow Eoman
Catholics to sit in Parliament, as well as for the more limited
measure to allow Eoman Catholic Peers to sit in the House
of Lords. However, he considered the more prudent course to
give an anti-Catholic vote, without committing himself by a
speech, — taking care in private conversation to intimate that
he had no decided opinions upon the subject, and that a change
of circumstances might justify a change of policy.
He still resisted all reforms of the law proposed by oppo-
sition members. Thus the bill for allowing counsel to address
the jury in cases of felony he denounced as unnecessary and
dangerous. " At present," he said, " the Judge is of counsel
for the accused in trials for felony. But if the counsel for the
defence were to make a speech full of inflammation and exag-
geration, which must inevitably happen, then it would be
replied upon by the Judge in his charge, and he would thus
become of counsel against the prisoner." * So he urged very
forcibly all the fallacious arguments which in a subsequent
* Hansard, N. S., xi. 207 ; xv. 596.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 37
stage of his career, when law reform had become popular, he CHAP.
as forcibly refuted, calling forth the remark that he had made '
the best speech against, and the best speech for the Bill. a.d. 1824-
During all the time that he was Attorney Greneral, he never ^^"^"
filed a single information ex officio for a libel. With Lord conduct as
Castlereacrh died the system of tryino: to frovern by terror, r^^ic pro-
° , •' . ^ ./ o o J ^ secutor
Some of the Six Acts expired without any attempt to continue while
them, and the others became a dead letter. This chano-e is to ^"1^"°^^
be ascribed mainly to the more enlightened views of Canning,
Avho was now rapidly gaining the ascendant, being warmly
supported by Huskisson, who had been introduced into the
Cabinet to the great disgust of Lord Eldon, while Peel, the
Home Secretary, was beginning himself to set up for a law
reformer, and on all subjects except Catholic emancipation
was alarming the oj^timists, who thought that om* institutions
at the close of the reio-n of Georse III. had reached a state of
absolute perfection. If Copley had been directed to file as
many criminal informations as Sir Yicary Gibbs, who placed
widows and old maids on the floor of the Court of King's
Bench to receive sentence for political libels "published in
newspapers which they had never read, because they received
annuities secured on the profits of the newspapers afore-
said, I fear me he would have obeyed, and would have produced
very plausible reasons to justify what he did ; but I believe
that he had sincere pleasure in following the mild course
towards the press which distinguished liis Attorney General-
ship, being swayed both by his natural good-humour and by a
reasonable conviction that, unless " libels " contain some direct
insult to religion or some direct incitement to violate the law,
the state prosecutor had better leave them to be answered
and refuted by the press, or quietly to drop into neglect.
Chancery reform (as afterwards in 1852) was now the great The part
subject of agitation. Lord Eldon, in his own court and in ^^^^^^ ^
the judicial department of the House of Lords, had allowed Chancery
arrears to accumulate which could not be cleared off in the
lifetime of the litigants ; and to expose this abuse the opposi-
tion were frequently moving for returns and for committees
of inquiry. The staff of Judges to dispose of equity business
was certainly insufficient, and much of the delay so grievously
38 KEIGN OF GEORGE IV.
CHAP, complained of arose from the absurd system, now happily
exploded, of the Judge before whom a cause was heard re-
A.D. 1824- ferring- it to another Judge, called a " Master in Chancery,'
1826. ^yi^i^ perpetual appeals and fresh references between them.
Lord Eldon, however, was personally answerable for unne-
cessary and culpable " cunctation," as he called it, in pro-
tracting the arguments of counsel and in deferring judgment
from day to day, from term to term, and from year to year,
after the arguments had closed and he had irrevocably decided
in his own mind what the judgment should be. His colleagues
in the Cabinet were fully aware of his infirmity, and would
have been well pleased to be rid of him. But they knew that
he had great authority with the King, and that the " Churcli-
and-King " party looked up to him as their head ; so that any
affront to him might be fatal to the existing administration.
Copley had a nice game to play. The administration was to
be upheld, for he would have been overwhelmed in its ruins ;
but Lord Eldon, as far as was consistent with that object, was
to be vilipended, so that at the first convenient opportunity
he might be got rid of, and a fit successor might take his
place. Lord Eldon, knowing that in spite of long cuncta-
tion, " that fell Serjeant Death " would, ere long, be " strict
in his arrest," destined as his successor his humble favourite
Gifford, and looked suspiciously on Copley, who not only
had been a Jacobin, but had acquired a high position in
the House of Commons as an anti-Jacobin, and was now
ready, as pro-Catholic or anti- Catholic, to avail himself
of the first favourable opportunity of clutching the Great
Seal.
In private Mr. Attorney talked with the most undisguised
and unmitigated scorn of the Lord Chancellor. In the House
of Commons he applied to the " venerable Judge " all the
epithets which courtesy required ; but he only came forward
in his defence when forced so to do by official etiquette, and
then he lavished upon him praise strongly seasoned with
sarcasm.
To stave off the repeated motions for Chancery reform, a
commission had been appointed, which, after sitting two
years, had made a report recommending certain improvements
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUKST. 39
in the procedure of tlie Court of C]lancer5^ Copley's last CPIAP.
performance in the House of Commons as xittorney General
Attorney
General.
was to introduce a Bill founded on this report. After a very a.d. 1826.
luminous exposition of the flagrancy of the existing system isth :May.
— irresistibly suggesting the question, JVliij had it heen alloived
to exist so long ? — he said, " He would not venture to expatiate
upon the merits of the present Chancellor, a theme above his
power ; he would content himself with reminding the House
of the panegyric lately pronounced on the noble and learned
Lord by a learned member, who had eloquently dwelt upon
the artlessness and simplicity of his mind and of his manners,
his singular disinterestedness, and his readiness to sacrifice
his love of retirement to the discharo-e of his official duties." *
The Bill, having been read a first time, was allowed to lan-
guish till Lord Eldon had resigned the Great Seal to Lord
Lyndhurst.
But we have still some notice to take of our hero before he ^^i« practice
at the
reached this elevation. While Attorney General he continued bar while
the second in practice in Westminster Hall, though still at a
long distance from Scarlett, who, by his ov,^n merits and the
partiality of Lord Tenterden, was decidedly the first. At
this time no state trial nor cause celebre of any sort arose, and
I have in vain looked for any further producible specimen of
Copley's forensic eloquence. He was wonderfully clear and
forcible ; but he could not make the tender chords of the
heart vibrate, having nothing in unison with them in his own
bosom. He was more solicitous about the effect he might
produce while speaking than about the ultimate result of the
trial. Therefore he was unscrupulous in his statement of
facts when opening his case to the jury, more particularly
when he knew that he was to leave the court at the conclu-
sion of his address, on the plea of attending to public business
elsewhere. I was often his junior, and on one of these occa-
sions, when he was stating a triumphant defence, which we
had no evidence to prove, I several times plucked him by
the gown and tried to check him. Having told the jury that
they were bound to find a verdict in his favour, he was leaving
the court ; but I said " No ! Mr. Attorney, you must stay and
* Hansard, N. S., vol. xv., p. 1228.
40
EEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAP.
III.
A.D. 1824-
1826,
His aspirn-
tion to the
office of
Pi-ime Mi-
nister,
and to the
cliaractev of
a man of
fashion.
examine the witnesses ; I cannot afford to bear tlie discredit
of losing the verdict from my seeming incompetence : if you
go, I go." He then dexterously offered a reference — to which
the other side, taken in by his bold opening, very readily
assented.*
Strange to say, although he had an eye to the woolsack, he
\7ould not be tempted by any fee to go into the Court of
Chancery as counsel, nor would he take a brief in Scotch
appeals in the House of Lords. For gaining the object of his
ambition he trusted entirely to politics, and, if asked how he
expected to be able to dispose of " demurrers for want of
equity," and " exceptions to the Master's Eeport," and how
he should know whether to affirm or reverse interlocutors
of the Court of Session, he would gaily exclaim, "alors
comme alors."
About this time he was so much petted by the high Tories
that he had some vague notion of cutting the profession of the
law altogether and accepting a political office, in the hope
that he might succeed Lord Liverpool ; and, with the addition
of fixed principles, he certainly would have been far better
qualified than Perceval, who, to the satisfaction of his party,
had become Prime Minister from being Attorney General.
Copley had a much better stock of general information and
superior oratorical powers, witli fascinating manners, which
made him a general favourite. He now more than ever
affected the man of fashion, and when he took a trip to Paris
was flattered with any raillery which supposed that he in-
dulged in all the gaieties of that dissipated capital. By
driving himself about the streets of London in a smart
cabriolet, with a " tiger " behind, he greatly shocked Lord
Eldon, who exclaimed, " What would my worthy old master,
* It was related that Clarke, the leader of the Midland Circuit (under
whom Copley was reared), having in the middle of his opeumg si^eech
observed a negotiation going on for the settlement of the cause, stated con-
fidently an important fact which he had imagined at the moment. When
all was over, his attorney afterwards said to him privately, " Sir, don't you
think we have got very good terms? but you rather went beyond my instruc-
tions." " You fool," cried he, " How do you suppose you could have got
such terms if I had stuck to your instructions ? " But in the case in the text,
Copley had entertained no ulterior view beyond making a dasldng speech,
and leaving poor Campbell to lose the verdict.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUKST. 41
George III., have tlioiiglit of me, had lie heard of his Attorney ^^yf ^'
General comporting himself like a prodigal young heir dissi-
pating a great fortune?" I know not whether Copley had a.d. 1824-
any view to the Foreign Office, for I never heard him say "^'
so: but he particularly cultivated the cojys di])lomatique,
who were constantly to be seen at his table and at Lady
Copley's receptions. She now weeded her visiting-book
almost entirely of lawyers, and their wives and daughters;
but he, by his honhomie, or rather his abandon, contrived to
keep up his popularity with all ranks. A proof of this was He is re-
that, becoming a candidate to represent the University of Ih^uniTCi-
Cambridge in Parliament, he was warmly supported by sity of Cam-
lawyers — Tory, Whig, and Eadical — and he was triumphantly " ^^'
retm-ned. Luckily, he had not to make a speech, nor to
publish addresses to the constituents ; so that even when he
took his seat as the representative of a body strongly opposed
to Catholic emancipation, he was at liberty to espouse either
side, without the open scandal of inconsistency.
But events were thickenino: which determined him to His reasons
declare himself a strong anti-Catholic. Lord Gifford, who j°g^(.i"°^^
had conformed himself in all things to Lord Eldon's views, himself a
had been the destined anti-Catholic Chancellor. But in the catholic.
beginning of September, 1826, this worthy person, whose
rise had been so extraordinary, suddenly died, making a
vacancy in the office of Master of the Eolls, and in the
reversion of anti-Catholic Lord Chancellor. Lord Eldon
wished much that Sir Charles Wetherell, then Solicitor
General, whose notions about Church and State exactly
agreed with his own, should succeed him. Of Copley the
bigoted ultra-Tory had an utter horror; for in dreams he
had seen this rival snatching the great seal from his hand,
and heard him delivering a harangue in favour of the Eoman
Catholics.
Lord Liverpool, full well knowing the Chancellor's senti-
ments on tliis subject, thus cautiously addressed him : —
" You will, of course, have heard the melancholy and unex-
pected death of Lord Gifford. lie is a very great loss at this
time both public and private. I promise you that I will speak
to no one on the sxibject till I have seen you. Having, however,
A.D. 1826.
42 REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
CHAP, received an account yesterday of Lord Gifford's extreme danger,
' it was impossible I should not turn in my mind during the night
what was to arise, if we were so unfortunate as to lose him. I
confess to you, the present inclination of my mind is that the
Attorney General should be made to accept the Mastership of
the Eolls. He has no competitor at the bar, at least on our side,
nor any one on the Bench who can compete with him for the
highest honours of the profession. Indeed, I know not what
else can be done which would not increase all prospective diffi-
culties to an immense degree.
"Do not return any answer to this letter; but turn it well
over in your mind, and let us talk of it when we meet to-
morrow."
Lord Eldon in great consternation wrote a " mcst private
and confidential " letter to Sir Eobert Peel, in which, after
mentioning Lord Gifford's death and observing that "the
prejudice created against him in the public mind was gene-
rated by the industry of some who envied his rapid profes-
sional advancement more than by any other assignable
cause," he thus proceeds : —
" Of course the Minister is now looking for a successor — he
naturally looks to Copley. I doubt extremely whether he will
accept the office of Master of the Eolls, even with the prospect of
possessing the Great Seal. Plis professional emoluments must be
very great — the object for him naturally to look to is the King's
Bench, and report as to the health of the Chief Justice does not
represent the prospect of obtaining that object as at a distance.
I have stated to Lord Liverpool, who has conducted himself to
me as to this very respectfully, my apprehensions that he will
decline the Eolls. He ought not, perhaps — yet a man of his
eminence in that part of the profession in which he has been en-
gaged may probably feel unwilling to go into a Court of Equity
as a Judge, never having been in one as a counsel, and especially
in that Equity Court in which much business is rather business
of form than requiring the exercise of a powerful intellect. He
has always refused briefs in Scotch causes, which looks as if his
views were directed to the King's Bench, and not to the office
of Chancellor, who must hear so many Scotch causes."
The object of this letter was to persuade Sir Eobert Peel
that Copley was not fit for the office of Master of the Eolls, or
of Chancellor, and to induce him to interfere to bring about
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 43
another arrangement : but the attempt wholly failed, and in CHAP,
a subsequent letter to his confidant, Lord Eldon says : '
" "With respect to Copley he accepted the oflSce, and, it appeared ^'^' ^^''^'
to me, without any donht about accepting it. Indeed, though I ^j^'4"^of
doubted whether he would accept, as he never bad been in a the Rolls.
Court of Equity at all, and never woixld take a brief in a Scotch
cause, yet, considering that the Chancellorship and the Chief
Jx;sticeship of the King's Bench may be soon open, — and, on the
other hand, the change of Administration may not be a thing so
impossible in the mean time, as to make the acceptance a foolish
thing of an office and income worth 8000?. a-year for life, which
may be accepted without prejudice to his moving to either of the
above offices, if they happen to be vacant in due time, — I think
he has acted very prudently, especially taking into the account
that he goes to school in the lower form (the EoUs) to qualify
him to remove into the higher, if he takes the Chancellorship."
In truth, Copley never did hesitate one moment in accept-
ing the offer, although clogged with the condition that he
must not for the present ask a peerage. Lord Eldon had
pointed out the impossibility of his sitting, as Gifford had
done, and presiding as Deputy Speaker in the decision of
appeals. This point was conceded by Lord Liverpool to
Lord Eldon, who undertook to get through the appeals with
the assistance of Alexander, C.B., and Vice-chancellor Leach.
They were both well acquainted with Scotch law, and he
suggested that, though commoners, they might be appointed
to act as Deputy Speakers, and in fact give judgment in the
name of the House, although they could not give any reason
for the decision.* Copley felt that for him to have attempted
to speak ex cathedra on the Scotch tenure " a me vel de me "
would only have exposed him to ridicule, whereby his power
of supplanting Lord Eldon might be materially impaired ;
whereas, by remaining in the House of Commons as Master
of the Rolls, he would acquire new weight there, and might
* Tliis attempt led to very anomalous and inconvenient consequences, and
will never be repeated. Leach, as he could not make a speech in the House,
used to get the counsel and solicitors into a committee room, and there state to
them his reasons for the judgment of the House. Ho might just as well have
assembled a mob round him in Palace Yard and parodied the giving of a
judgment or any other proceeding of the House of Lords.
44 EEIGN OF GEORGE IV.
CHAP.
III.
be ready at any favourable moment to give tlie eou]i de grace
to the condemned Chancellor.
A,D. 1826. On the first day of Michaelmas Term, 1826, he appeared
at the Chancellor's levee in a gold-embroidered gown as
Master of the Eolls. He looked a little abashed, for hitherto
this office had generally been declined by aspiring Attorney
Generals as beinsf considered rather a comfortable shelf for
second-rate men ; but he soon recovered his air of self-
satisfaction and hilarity, conscious to himself that he was
playing a deep and a sure game.
His com- Of his judicial performances as Master of the Rolls hardly
portment as . •mi i i , ^ o -i • -r-»
an Equity a vcstigo remains, lliey ought to be lound m 'Itussells
Judge. Chancery Reports,' but there, although his name is men-
tioned, no decision of his of the slightest importance is
recorded. The gossip of the profession during the short
period Avhen he continued Master of the Rolls, was that " he
sat as seldom as possible, and rose as early as possible, and
did as little as possible." Yet he shewed his tact and clever-
ness by avoiding all scrapes into which he might have fallen,
and by keeping the bar and the solicitors in good humour.
He devotes His whole energies were now absorbed in jjolitical intrigue.
poHtTcs. ° '^^^ death of the Duke of York in January, 1827, after
having vowed eternal hostility (whether as subject or sove-
reign) to Catholic emancipation, caused some doubts and
misgivings to his Honour, the Master of the Rolls, who was
further told that the life of George lY. had become very
precarious, and that the Duke of Clarence, now heir pre-
sumptive, had come round to the side of the Roman Catholics.
But a crisis unexpectedly arose to confirm the anti-Catholic
propensities which his Honour had confidentially disclosed
during his canvass for the University, and induced him
publicly and solemnly to proclaim himself a determined and
Death of Unchangeable Anti-Catholic. In February, 1 827, Lord Liver-
pool. ""' pool; tlie Prime Minister, was suddenly struck down by
Feb. 1827. apoplexy, and although he continued to breathe for some
months, it was known that his public career was at an end.
A terrible collision immediately took place between pro-
Catholics and anti-Catholics. The Kino- laid down as the
basis of the new government that there should be a majority
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 45
of anti-Catliolics iu the Cabinet, and that he should have an CHAP.
III.
anti-Catliolic Keeper of his conscience, but that emancipation
shoukl still be " an open question." This was acquiesced in a.d. I827.
by all parties, and it was absolutely settled that, whoever
the Prime Minister might be, there was, at all events, to be
an anti-Catholic Lord Chancellor. Copley said to himself
and his intimates, "I am the man." The rivals for the
premiership were Peel and Canning. The former, indeed,
said he was willing to continue to serve as Home Secretary
under some anti-Catholic peer if any one of sufficient repu-
tation to succeed Lord Liverpool could be discovered — which
he knew to be impossible. Canning openly and resolutely
claimed the premiership, but Peel vowed that under a pro-
Catholic premier he would not serve. Lady Conyngham,
who now ruled the King, favom-ed Canning, and a detach-
ment of Whigs, on account of Canning's liberal principles,
were ready to coalesce with him.
Although the struggle was going on many weeks, the
business in parliament proceeded without any public notice
being taken of Lord Liverpool's illness. Copley again 27th Feb.
brought in the Bill for reforming the Court of Chancery, in
which no progress had been made during the last session,
and he now took a bolder tone in pointing out existing
abuses and in creating amazement that so consummate a
Judge as Lord Eldon should so long have tolerated them, —
insinuating the inference that they could only be remedied
under other auspices.
But his Honour's great object was to shew himself to the Hisceiebrat-
King and to the countiy, althougli no longer disinclined to Ig^^H'^
reform our civil institutions, and so far in harmony with Catholic
. Jbrnancipa-
Canning and his Whig recruits, yet — m religion — a stern tion.
uncompromising and inflexible ultra-Protestant. A very
favourable opportunity for this was afforded by Plunket's
motion, on the 6th of March, for removing the disabilities
of his Majesty's Koman Catholic subjects. Copley having
taken immense pains to prepare himself, and resolutely
determined to despise any sneers that might be excited by
his sudden conversion from Jacobinism to bigotry, spoke at
great length on the second night of the debate, immediately
46 EEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAP, following Lord Eliot (afterwards the Earl of St. Germans and
^^^' Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland), who had frankly declared that,
A.D. 1827. although he had hitherto voted against the Catholics, he had
from recent events come to the conclusion that their emanci-
pation could no longer be withheld.
Master of the Bolls. — " I give the noble Lord who has just sat
down the fullest credit for the manliness of conduct which he
has displayed on this occasion. The manner in which the
avowal has been made is as creditable to the noble Lord as the
avowal itself For myself, as the representative of a numerous
and highly distinguished body of constituents wdio have con-
sidered maturely and felt deeply, even intensely, in this crisis
of our religion — I trust that I may be permitted to state to the
House their opinions, in which I fully concur.* We are indeed
standing in a great crisis. The eyes of the country are fixed
upon the present deliberations. The great mass of the Protestant
population of the empire are looking with deep anxiety to the
result of these deliberations. The great mass of the Catholic
population of Ireland are looking with still more intense feeling
of anxiety to the result of these deliberations. Whatever the
result may be — if it be arrived at by means of calm consideration
and candid debate— by means of fair statement and cool exami-
nation — it will be entitled to the acqiiiescence of the country."
But he speedily alters this placid tone, and exclaims, —
" The Protestants of England are put upon their defence. We
are the parties accused. We are charged with intolerance, with
religious bigotry, with oppression. Who are our accusers ? The
professors of the Koman Catholic religion. They do show that
severe laws were made against them, but they altogether pass
over the acts by which those laws were rendered necessary.
Without wishing to excite any bad or angry feelings, I must ask
the House to consider the circumstances under which these laws
were enacted. Was it upon mere speculation— upon conjectural
fears — upon remote apprehensions of danger — that the Acts of
Elizabeth were passed for keeping in subjection the Eoman
Catholics ? The men by whom they were proposed and enacted
had been observers of the short but eventful reign of Mary.
Some of them had been sufferers from the religious violence of
those times. All of them had been witnesses of the persecutions
* This was very skilful and artistic,— to divert, if possible, the attention
of the House from" himself to his constituents, although he was obliged to say,
sotto voce, that he concurred in theu- opinions.
LIFE OF LORD LTNDHUEST. 47
in the Ketlierlands and of the treacherous massacres in France. CHAP.
The Eonian Catholics of that period were endeavouring day by
day to undermine and overturn the constitution of this countr}', ^ ^g^,,-
and, in concert with the most tyrannical and bigoted government
that ever existed (I mean Spain), to introduce into England a
thraldom which our ancestors successfully resisted, and to which
I trust we, their descendants, will never submit."
He proceeded at great length to recapitulate the misdeeds
of the Eoman Catholics down to the Irish massacre of 1641,
and asked if it was not natural to guard against the re23etition
of such outrages. He then came to the attempt to re-
introduce Popery in the reign of James II., and justified the
penal code of William III. Catholics having already full
liberty of worship, he said the only question was " whether
they should be admitted to the exercise of political power ? "
By-and-bye he attempted to shew the danger of the Inquisi-
tion being introduced amongst us.
"In 1798 the Inquisition w^as abolished in Spain, in conse-
quence of the French Eevolution ; but now that cursed, that
hated engine of misery and tortiire, that instrument of cruelty
and revenge, was again established in all its original rigour and
deformity in Spain and in Italy. I do not mean to say that
the Inquisition will be establislied in Ireland ; no; but never-
theless the Catholic religion is still unchanged, and the same
power to effect mischief is still in existence. You are assembled
by the King's writ commanding you to consider matters relating
to the interests of the State and of the Protestant Church ; and,
thus assembled, you are called upon to admit as members of a
Protestant legislature, deliberating iqion matters connected with
the safety of the Church of England, a body of Eoman Catholics
hostile to that Church and hostile to it from their principles as
Eoman Catholics. I regret to say there are in this House some
lukewarm and indifferent to the interests of the established
Church, and there are some in this House who are actuated by
feelings of enmity towards the Church — although their number
be small compared with those who cordially love and support it.
But small as the number of enemies may be, is it prudent to add
to their number ? All who love the Church of England, there-
fore, are bound to reject this motion. Instead of tranquillising,
the measure, if carried, would convulse Ireland. The Catholics
would triumph in their victory, and the Protestants would repine
48 REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
CHAP, iji tiie consciousness that tliey were subdued. A momentary calm
' would be followed by a frightful explosion, and by permanent
AD 18 '^'7 aiiarcliy. The Eoman Catholic religion is a religion of encroach-
ment, and there are circumstances connected with its existence
in Ireland which increase the disposition to encroach. Then
claim would be made after claim till Catholic ascendancy is com-
pletely established."
He concluded this speech, of which I have only given a
few extracts and an imperfect outline, by boldl}'- claiming
credit for sincerity !
" It is not improbable," said he, " that I may be followed by
my right honourable friend the Attorney General for Ireland
[Plunket]. There is not any man who possesses greater powers,
or who can use them more forcibly for the advantage of the cause
which he espouses. I admire the earnestness with which he has
entered into this question ; but while I pay this deserved tribute
to his talent and his zeal, I trust that he will give me equal
credit for the sincerity with which I entertain the opinions I have
expressed." *
He sat dovm amidst some cheers and a great deal of
tittering.
The brief In truth, if he had any opinions on the subject, they were
he^spoke!*^ kuown to be on the other side of the question, and he had
now spoken literally, as at Nisi Prius, from a brief; for all
the historical facts and arguments which he had used were
to be found nearly in the same order in a very able pamphlet
recently published by Dr. Philpotts, then Prebendary of
Durham, now Bishoj) of Exeter. Before Cople}'" concluded,
the plagiarism was detected by several members, and a
stanza from, a well-known song was whispered through the
House : —
" Dear Tom, this brown jug wMcli now foams with mild ale,
Out of which I now drink to sweet Nan of the Vale,
Was once Toby Philpotts."
* 16 Hansard. N. S., 92. I still remained on very familiar terms with him,
and meeting him next evening, freely expressed to him my astonishment at his
speech. His only answer was, " You will see that I am quite right." From
this time our personal intercourse almost entirely ceased, till I myself'became
a member of the House of Peers, when we talked together as freely and
recklessly as ever.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 49
Before long, Copley spoke bis own real sentiments in ^?j^^"
supporting the Duke of Wellingion's Bill for Catholic eraan- '
cipation. There is no denying that, on the present occasion, a.d. i827.
he acted with a view to the Great Seal as his immediate
reward. And he succeeded. George IV. set him down as a
thorough anti-Catholic, and was quite willing to surrender to
him the keeping of his conscience. Canning was a good deal
shocked by some of the topics which Copley had resorted to,
but comforted himself with the reflection that, when in a
situation to carry emancipation, a rotatory Chancellor would
be no obstacle in his way.
The negotiations were still long protracted, but no repu-
table anti-Catholic peer being found for premier, the King,
on the 10th of April, commissioned Canning to form a new
administration- Lord Eldon, thinking that Canning, the new
minister, could not stand, tendered his resignation. This i^th April.
' ' . f^ Copley
was immediately accepted, and Copley, without any affecta- created
tion or coyness, frankly and joyfully agreed to be his sue- Jij,,^.^ ^^'
cesser. The Great Seal, however, remained some time in
Lord Eldon's custody, that he might give judgment in various
cases which had been argued before him.
Meanwhile, Copley was raised to the peerage by the title ^^'^ b--'™'!
. , \^ o 1 Lyndhurst.
of Baron Lyndhurst of Lyndhurst, m the county ot South-
ampton. Every one, foe or friend, had a fling at him ; but,
on account of his brilliant talents and his delightful manners
the appointment was by no means unpopular.
VOL. Yin.
E
50
KEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAPTEE IV.
CHAP.
IV.
Opposite
views taken
by Lord
Eld on and
Lord Lynd-
hurst of
humbug.
Their re-
ciprocal
courtesy.
LORD CHANCELLOR UNDER CANNING, LORD GODERICH, AND
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
1827—1830.
Never was there a greater contrast than between tlie
ousted and incoming Chancellor, both in their intellectual
faculties and in their acquirements ; above all, with respect
to what is called Jmnibug ; — for the one, thinking that man-
kind were governed by it, was always making professions of
honesty and became his own dupe ; while the other, being of
opinion that by despising all pretences to political principles
he should best make his way in the world, affected to be
worse than he really was, and excited doubts as to his faults
by exaggerating them. Both these extraordinary men .were
too good-natured to foster actual hatred of each other, but
that they formed a very low estimate of each other's moral
qualities they took no pains to conceal. Yet the forms of
courtesy were duly preserved between them. When Lord
Eldon had delivered his judgments, he wrote a very respectful
letter to Lord Lyndhurst, congratulating him on his elevation,
and enquiring when it would be convenient that the transfer
of the Great Seal should take place. The following was the
becoming answer : —
" My DKAR Lord " Greorge Street, April 2Qtli.
"I thank your Lordship for your kind congratulations.
With respect to the change of the custody of the Seal, nothing
more has been stated to me than a wish that it should take
place before the meeting of the House of Lords.* I beg your
Lordship will, in every particular, consult your own convenience,
to which it vrill be my greatest pleasure to conform. If your
liordship will permit me, I will wait upon you after I have
* The House of Lords had been adjourned from the 12th April to the
2nd May,
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUEST. 51
made the necessary inquiries, and inform yonr Lordsliip of the CHAP,
result.
" Believe me, my dear Lord (with the deepest sense of your ^ ^ ^g-,-
uniform kindness for me), to remain, with unfeigned respect,
" Your Lordship's faithful servant,
" Lyndhurst."
The transfer actually did take place at St. James's, ou Lord Lynd-
the 30th of April, 1827. Lord Eldon, having delivered it augmation
into the King's hands, withdrew, — his Majesty expressing ^^^°f^^^ ^
deep grief at the loss of such a dear councillor; and, Lord
Lyndluirst being called in, received it from the King, with
the title of Lord Chancellor, his Majesty expressing his high
satisfaction at being able to place it in the hands of one in
whom he placed entire confidence.*
The 2nd of May was the first day of Easter Term, and
the day to which the House of Lords had been adjourned. At
twelve o'clock the new Chancellor held a levee at his house
in George street, and Avent from thence to Westminster Hall,
attended by a crowd of nobles, privy councillors, judges, and
king's counsel, after the ancient form, except that it Avas a
carriage procession instead of a cavalcade. In the Court of
Chancerv he took the oaths, the new Master of the Eolls
holding the book. The oath being recorded, he boldly called
over the bar. From his ignorance of the practice, motions
might have been made which would liave greatly perplexed
him ; but, according to the etiquette mentioned by Koger
North, in his account of the inauguration of Lord Shaftesbury,
in the reign of Charles IL, nothing was stirred which could
alarm a novice in the marble chair ; and he rose, whispering
with a triumphant smile : " You see how well I get on —
Bah ! there is nothing in it."
In another performance, whieli he had to go through im-
* The ceremony is thus described in the ' London Gazette :' —
'-At the Court at St. James's, the 30th d:iy of April, 1827,
" Present, The King's Most Excellent IVIajestt in CoiTNCn..
'• His Majesty in CorNCiL was this day plea.sed to deliver the Great Seal to
tlie Eight Honourable John Singleton TiOrd Lyiidhur^-t, whereupon the oath of
Lord High Cliancellor of Great Britain was, by His Majesty's command,
administered to his Lordship, and his Lordship took his place at the BuarJ
accordingly."
E 2
52
EEIGN OP GEOEGE IV.
CHAP.
IV.
A.D, 1827.
He takes
his seat in
the House
of Lords.
His ex-
pedient for
disposing ol'
Scotch ap-
peals.
mediately after, he was perfect. This was taking his place
on the woolsack and being seated as a peer. Upon such occa-
sions he was seen to great advantage ; and although he
would laugh at them when they were over, he played his part
with seriousness and dignity *
Henceforth he was a most distinguished member of this
branch of the legislature, and he swayed its deliberations for
good and for evil in very critical times. At first he affected
to be shy, and he was very reserved. Only twice during
the subsistence of Mr. Canning's government does he appear
to have addressed their Lordships. The first was in support
of a very anomalous measure, to which he was obliged to resort
from his ignorance of Scottish jurisprudence. He was himself
wholly unqualified to decide appeals from the Court of
Session, and the House (at present so rich in law lords, having
no fewer than four Ex-Chancellors, besides the actual Lord
Chancellor and the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bene]i,t)
could then furnish no law lord who could be asked to do
this duty for him, as Lord Eldon could not, with dignity, have
acted as the deputy of his successor. The expedient was, to
have Alexander, the Chief Baron, and Leach, the Master of
the Eolls, to sit for him by turns, three days in the week ;
and a commission, authorising them respectively to act as
* Extract from the Journals of the House of Lords, 2nd May, 1827 : —
" His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Charence acquaiuted the House that his
Majesty had been pleased to create the Eiglit Honourable Sir John Singleton
Copley, Knt., Lord Chancellor of that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called Great Britain, a peer of these realms.
" Whereupon his Lordship, taking in his hand the purse with the Great
Seal, retired to the lower end of the House, and, having there put on his robes,
was introduced between the Lord Howard de Walden and the Lord King (also
in their robes), the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, Garter King of Arms
and Earl Marshal, and the Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain preceding. His
lordship laid down the patent upon the Chair of State, kneeling, and from
thence took and delivered it to the clerk, who read the same at the table, which
bears date the 25th day of April, in the eighth year of his present Majesty ;
whereby is granted to his lordship and the heirs male of his body the style and
title of Baron Lyndhm-st of Lyudhurst, in the County of Southampton. (Writ
of Summons read.)
" Then his lordship, at the table, took the oaths, and made and subscribed
the declaration, and also made and subscribed the oath of abjuration pursuant
to the statutes ; and was afterwards placed on the lower end of the Barons'
bench, and from thence went to the upper end of the Earls' bencli, and sat
there as Lord Chancellor, and then returned to the woolsack."
t A.D. 1853.
LIFE OP LORD LYNDHUEST. 53
Speaker in the absence of tlie Lord Chancellor, was granted. CHAP.
This practice being objected to by several peers as irregular '
and unconstitutional, Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst delivered a.d. is27.
his maiden speech in defence of it. After showing the im-
mense number of Scotch appeals ]3ending, he said — " he could
not devote his own time to them without injury to the suitors
in the Court of Chancery. It was indispensably necessary
that the Chancellor should sit two days a week in the House
of Lords, to hear English and Irish appeals. This arrange-
ment would give him four days for the Court of Chancery —
which, he trusted, would be sufficient to keep down the busi-
ness of that court. If then- Lordships would grant him the
indulgence which he asked, he pledged himself, before the
next session, to perfect a plan with reference to his court
which should secure the performance of its duties, regularly,
faithfully, and efficiently."*
This pledge smoothed over the difficulty ; but it never was
redeemed.t
On the other occasion of his speaking while Chancellor He supports
under Canning, he sliowed the liberal tendency which always ters' War-
guided him when he was not biassed by some interested ^"'''*S^ ^^^^
or party motive. A bill was pending, which I had after-
wards the satisfaction of carrying through Parliament, for
allowino- the marriao-es of Protestant Dissenters, wlio had
conscientious objections to parts of the marriage service in
the English liturgy, to be celebrated in their own places of
religious worship and before their own pastors. This bill
was of course opposed by Lord Eldon; and he denounced
certain Bishops who approved of it as little better than
infidels. But the new Lord Chancellor supported it very
powerfully, shewing that, till the Council of Trent, no
religious ceremony nor intervention of a priest was necessary
to constitute a valid marriage in any part of Europe ; that to
prohibit the King's subjects from contracting this relation
without violating their conscience, was an infringement of
their civil and religious rights, and that all the State could
* 17 Hansard, N. S., 574.
t In liis last Chancellorship I myself sat for him two clays a week ; but this
was less objectionable, as I was a member of the House.
54
EEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAP.
IV.
A.D. 1827.
Reasons for
his being
very quiet
while Can-
ning was
Minister.
Aug. 10,
1827.
Lord G ode-
rich Prime
Minister.
justly enjoin respecting the ceremony of marriage, was that
it be simple, certain, and capable of easy proof. He forcibly
dwelt upon the impolicy of making the Establishment odious
to a large class of the community, and concluded by
observing that the measure would be a relief almost as much
to the Church as to the Dissenters.* He consented, however,
that the bill should stand over till another session.
It was thought cowardly in the Chancellor not to defend
more strenuously his chief against the combined eiforts of
the Duke of Wellino-ton and Lord Grev. The latter, not-
withstanding his generally patriotic career, was on this
occasion particularly vulnerable ; for, although Canning was
decidedly liberal both in his foreign and domestic policy,
and was supported by Brougham and many Liberals, he was
bitterly attacked by the avowed leader of the Whigs,
apparently from the dread of being deserted by all the rest
of the party. But the Chancellor quickly perceived that,
with any exertion he could make to save it, the present
Government could not last long, and he did not like to
incur the enmity of those who would probably have to con-
struct a new cabinet.
Even if Canning had lived, the combination against him
would probably have been too strong to be resisted. Upon
his lamented death it was seen that either the Duke of
Wellington or Lord Grey must soon be .Prime Minister.
Lyndhurst openly laughed at the scheme of setting up
Lord Goderich as the nominal head of a government. Con-
curring in the freak of gazetting him as Eirst Lord of the
Treasury, yet, in prospect of the inevitable change at hand,
the long-headed Chancellor laboured to ingratiate himself
with the King and those about the Court who were likely
to have influence in the formation of the new arrange-
ments.
How he was conducting himself in the mean time as a
Judge in the Court of Chancery I must reserve for a future
opportunity, when I shall deliberately discuss his judicial
character. For the present it is enough to say that he
17 Hansard, N. S., 1418.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 55
sliewed capacity for becoming one of the greatest magistrates CHAP,
who ever filled the marble chair, but, alas ! at the same '
time, utter indifference about his future judicial fame, — a.d. 1827,
doing as little business as he could without raising a loud
clamour against him, shirking difficult questions which came
before him in his original jurisdiction, and affirming in
almost every appeal — satisfied with himself if he could steer
clear of serious blunders, and escape from public animad-
version.
Some of the duties of Chancellor he performed with vigour
and eclat. Soon after he received the Great Seal he brought
out a numerous batch of King's counsel, including all those
whom Lord Eldon had long so improperly kept back ; and,
further, he gave dinners in the most splendid style, heighten-
ing the effect of the artistic performances of his French cook
and Italian confectioner by his own wit and convivial powers.
It was rumoured that his band of attendants at table was
sometimes swelled by sheriff's officers put into livery, there
being frequent executions in his house ; but I believe that
for these stories, so generally circulated, there was no suffi-
cient foundation. Notwithstanding all his gains as Attorney
and Solicitor General, he certainly was poor ; for his private
practice had not been very profitable, and he spent money
as fast as he earned it. But I have heard him declare that
he never had incurred debts which he had not the means
of satisfying.
Lord Goderich (or " poor Goody," as the Chancellor called
him) ere long lost his head altogether. His wisest act Avas
the announcement of his own incapacity. Parliament was
summoned for the middle of January ; and he sat down to ad. 1828.
compose the King's speech, without being able to make any
progress in it. No wonder, for he could not determine in his
own mind with respect to any measure to be recommended,
or any opinion to be expressed on any public question,
domestic or foreign, which then engaged the public attention.
He was particularly puzzled about the character to be given
to the battle of Navarino, wliich his illustrious successor
thought fit to call an " untoward event." But when he had
got over several of these difficulties he was driven to commit
56 EEIGN OP GEOEGE IV.
CHAP, suicide by a paltry clifFerence between two of his subordinates,
^ which, upon an appeal to him, he was unable to adjust.
A.u. 1828. Late at night, on the 6th of January, he came to Lord
Resignation Lvudhui'st in a State of great a2:itation, and for some minutes
Goderich. walked about the room wringing his hands, without uttering
any articulate sound. At last he exclaimed, " I deem it due
to you to let the Lord Chancellor know that I have made up
my mind to resign immediately." An explanation taking
place, it turned out that, in reality, no new disaster had
happened. The Chancellor tried to reassure him, and to
advise him to meet Parliament, saying, that " after all, the
session might pass off smoothly, and, at any rate, it would be
more dignified to fall by an adverse vote than to tumble down
with a confession of incapacity." He attempted no answer,
but mopped the perspiration from his brows with his handker-
chief, as he was used to do in debate when his ideas became
very confused. He now merely said that his resolution was
irrevocable, and that what he feared was to break the matter
to the King, who must be much perplexed by being called
upon to change his cabinet a few days before the meeting of
Parliament. "As far as that goes," said the Chancellor,
" instead of your writing a letter to his Majesty (about which
there might be some awkwardness), if you do not like to face
him in a private audience, I don't mind accompanying you to
Windsor." This offer was joyfully accepted, and by a
dexterous stroke of- policy the Chancellor became master of
the position which gave him the power of forming the new
administration.
Next day they proceeded to Windsor together. The King
had been prepared for their visit by reason of a secret com-
munication to his private secretary, who was a fast friend
of the Chancellor, and his Majesty received them very
graciously and accepted the resignation. "But," said he,
"rather addressing himself to the Chancellor, "I ought
to ask your advice about the person I ought to send for
to consult about the formation of a new administration."
" Sir," said the Chancellor, " I venture to mention the name
which must have already presented itself to the mind of
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 57
your Majesty, the Duke of Wellington." ^»/^.— "Let him CHAP.
come to me as soon as possible." Lord Lyndhurst, in '
relating the particulars of this conference, avers that his a.d. 1828.
Majesty added, " But, remember, whoever is to be Minister, Formation
you, my lord, must remain my Chancellor." One would have °nVeiUn'^''
thought it more probable that this ajopointment should have ton's admi-
been suggested by the Duke of Wellington, when commis-
sioned to submit to his Majesty the list of a new administra-
tion. Nevertheless it is certain that Lord Lyndhurst's Lord lynd-
retention of the Great Seal was absolutely determined upon l^"^'''* *^°""
•' _ J- tinues
very early in the negotiation for the new ministry, altliough chancellor.
this was carefully concealed for a fortnight from Lord Eldon,
who, during the whole of that time, was impatiently ex-
pecting a summons to resume his former office. When he
read in the newspapers the list of the new ministry, Avitli
" Lord Lyndhurst, Chancellor," at the head of it, he was
furious. He wrote to his daughter, — " A lady, probably, has
had something to do with it ; " but he added, " My opinions
may have had something to do with it." In truth, the Duke
of Wellington, entertaining a great respect for Lord Eldon,
and as yet knowing little of Lord Lyndhurst which he much
liked, was shrewd enough to perceive (although he had then
formed no distinct plan of concessions eitlier to Dissenters
or to Eoman Catholics) that a Cabinet could stand no longer
with a sturdy and conscientious member in it, who thought that
all the anticjuated principles of the ultra-Toryism generated
by the French Kevolution must be religiously adhered to.
Lyndhurst had at times made speeches in a spirit quite as
intolerant, but he was known to be more open to conviction.
Peel, who was to be leader of the House of Commons, dreaded
still more than the Duke of Wellington the incumbrance of
Lord Eldon, of whose blind resistance to all change he had
complained under Lord Liverpool. Still, Peel had more
scruples than the Duke of Wellington in agreeing to Lord
Lyndhurst being Chancellor, for he had enjoyed better
opportunities of marking his career, and he reposed no con-
fidence in his sincerity. It is a curious fact, that, although
Lyndhurst and Peel sat together in the Cabinet so long, and.
58
KEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAP.
IV.
A.D. 1828.
Lord Lynd-
hurst as
the Duke
of Welling-
ton's Chan-
cellorf
He concurs
in the re-
peal of the
Corporation
and Test
Acts.
after the formation of the Duke of Wellington's Government,
never had an open difference, even down to the repeal of the
corn laws ; — they always entertained a considerable personal
dislike of each other, which they took very little pains to
conceal.
The Chancellor now filled a larger space in the public eye
than at any former time. He was reputed to have had the
principal hand in forming the new Government, and he had
high credit for his address in contriving to hold the Great
Seal under three premiers in one year. It was supposed that
he might be a little embarrassed by the new view to be taken
of Turkish politics, and of the battle of Navarino, which had
been hailed as a glorious victory; but when the 29th of
January came, he, as one of the Lords Commissioners who
addressed the two Houses of Parliament in his Majesty's
name, read the following passage without any faltering in his
voice or blush upon his cheek : —
" Xotwithstanding the valour displayed by the combined fleet,
His Majesty deeply laments that this conflict shoidd have oc-
curred with the naval force of an ancient ally; but he still
entertains a confident hope that this untoicard event will not be
followed by farther hostilities."
The great measure of this Session was Lord John Eussell's
Bill for repealing the Corporation and Test Acts, to which
Sir Kobert Peel had assented on behalf of the Government in
the House of Commons. "When it came up to the Lords it
was strongly opposed by Lord Eldon ; but as his arguments
were chiefly drawn from Lord Lyndhurst's famous anti-
Catholic speech in the House of Commons, when he was
Master of the Kolls, and did not now make much impression,
the refutation of that speech by Lord Lyndhurst was
reserved for another opportunity.
In the committee on the bill, a discussion arose upon the
declaration substituted for the sacramental test, — a declara-
tion which, I think, ought to have been omitted altogether ;
' for it has been of no service whatever to the Church,— being
superfluous if meant to be confined to obedience to existing
law, and clearly not binding if meant to extend to future
legislation. Lord Eldon having proposed an amendment
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 59
of tlio declaration Avliich would have confined the benefit of CHAP.
IV
the bill to Protestants, the Cliancellor accused him of " exer- '
cising his talents, his zeal, and his influence mischievously a.d. 1828.
in thus trying to defeat the bill."
Lord Eldon. — " Strange that such a charge should be brought
against me, and from such a quarter ! I have served my country
to the best of my abilities, and, if I am now engaged in anything
calculated to be mischievous, I pray God that I may be forgiven.
I cast back the imputation which has been sought to be thrown
upon my conduct by the noble and learned Lord on the woolsack,
with all the scorn of a man who feels himself injured."
Before long, the Marquis of Lansdowne brought forward 9th June.
"Catholic emancipation," in the shape of a resolution that
" it is expedient to consider the laws affecting our Roman
Catholic fellow subjects, with a view to such a conciliatory
adjustment as might be conducive to the peace and strength
of the United Kmgdom." This policy was as yet disagreeable
to the Government, and was therefore opposed by the Chan- He again
cellor, who strenuously contended that our constitution was oa'thoHc
made essentially Protestant at the Eevolution of 1688 ; and em.mcipa-
he justified all the laws then passed for that purpose. Having
thus established his premises, he then asked: — "What change
had taken place in the position or condition of Ireland which
required that the conduct of this country should be altered
towards the Catholics of Ireland ? It was too true there
were persons in Ireland exercising a sway and authority
which was altogether unknown to the constitution. They
demanded for the Catholics of Ireland admission to seats in
this Protestant House; they demanded admission to offices
of State, thereby rendering this House no longer a Pro-
testant House of Peers, and the Government no longer a
Protestant Government. Exercising the best judgment he
could, he did not think that the concessions now demanded
would have the effect of tranquillizing Ireland. For the last
seven years the priesthood had increased its authority there
to a degree unprecedented, and this would only be increased
and rendered more dangerous by the concessions which were
meditated. As long as this religion continued to be the
tion.
60
EEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAP.
IV.
A.D. 1829.
Sudden
resolution
of the
Govern-
ment that
Catholic
emancipa-
tion should
be granted.
Lord Lynd-
hurst con-
curs.
5th Feb.
He delivers
the royal
speecli re-
commend-
ing Catholic
emancipa-
tion.
religion of Ireland, no such concessions could succeed in
composing that agitated country."*
The motion was negatived by a majority of forty-four, and
the subject was not again debated during that session.
But, before Parliament met again, the Government (in-
cluding Lord Lyndhurst) had resolved that, although the
Eoman Catholic religion continued the religion of Ireland,
the fatal concessions should be granted. I do not think that
the Chancellor was at all consulted before the measure of
Catholic emancipation was finally determined upon by the
Duke of Wellington and Sir Eobert Peel ; but when it was
mentioned to him he very readily acquiesced in it. Not only
was he influenced by the consideration that if he did not
acquiesce he must resign the Great Seal, but I make no
doubt that he inwardly approved of the new policy of the
Government. It was, to be sure, a sudden change for him,
and he was more obnoxious to the charge of interested con-
version than his anti- Catholic colleagues : for they had always,
from early youth till now, been of the same opinion, and it
was admitted that hitherto they had entertained that opinion
with sincerity ; while his apparent bigotry had been recently
assumed. Whatever his motives or his reasoning with him-
self might be, he at once became a zealous emancipationist —
nor did he recoil from or much dread the invectives, the
taunts, and the sarcasms to which he knew he must be exposed,
— prepared to turn them off with a laugh, and boldly to
retaliate on all who should assail him.
In the royal speech, at the opening of the memorable
Session of 1829, he, on behalf of his Majesty, after com-
plaining of the Catholic Association and asking for powers
to put it down, thus jDroceeded in a firm tone and with a
steady aspect : — " His Majesty recommends that, when this
essential object shall have been accomplished, you should
take into your deliberate consideration the whole condition
of Ireland, and that you should review the laws which
impose civil disabilities on his Majesty's Eoman Catholic
subjects."
Wliile the Catholic Eelief Bill was making progress in the
19 Hansard, N. S., 1246.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 61
House of Commons, there were, from the commencement of ^?y^'
the Session, nightly skirmishes in the House of Lords on the
presentation of petitions for and against tlie measure, a.d. I829.
The Chancellor sometimes mixed in these, and received Skirmishes
painful scratches. Lord Eldon, presenting an anti-Catholic Eldon.
petition from the Company of Tailors at Glasgow, the Chan-
cellor, still sitting on the woolsack, said in a stage wliisper,
loud enough to be heard in the galleries: — "What! do
tailors trouble themselves with such measures f "
iorcZ JEldon. — "Mv noble and learned friend might have
been aware that tailors cannot like turncoats'' [A loud
laugh].
On a subsequent day, the Chancellor charged Lord Eldon
with insidiously insinuating, when presenting petitions against
the Eoman Catholics, that they were not loyal subjects, and
that they were unwilling to swear that they would support
the Protestant succession to the Crown.
Lord JEldon. — "My Lords, I am not in the habit of in-
sinuating — what I think, I avow. And, my Lords, I am an
oioen, not an insidious enemy, when I feel it my duty to
oppose any measure or any man. My character, known
to my country for more than fifty years, is, I feel, more
than sufficient to repel so unfounded a charge. It is equally
unnecessary that I should criticise the career of my ac-
cuser.
The grand struggle was in the debate uj^on the second Lord Lymi-
reading of the bill. Lord Eldon's friends Avished to give bn'ted^"^^^"
him the advantao-e of following his rival, whom they at last speech in
1 1 1 11- TVT • 1 Ti favour of
forced up by personal appeals to him. JNo man m a delibera- Catholic
tive assembly was ever placed in a more trying position, for ^j^^"^)!*^"
he really rose to answer Dr. Philpotts's pamphlet against answer to
the measure — which pamphlet he himself had sj)oken very tiated
recently in the other House of Parliament. Ho acquitted sp^c<-'^*
, . . against
himself very dexterously by abstaining from any professions Catholic
of sincerity, by quietly trying to show that he had been a t™^"'^'^''^'
very consistent politician, by assuming a tone of ribaldry, and
by bringing a charge of inconsistency against Lord Eldon,
who often j)roclaimed himself, and was generally considered
* 20 Hansard, N.S., 1827.
62 EEIGN OF GEOKGE IV.
CHAP. l3y others, if one of the most bigoted, at all events the most
' consistent of all living politicians.
A.D. 1829. "If," said the Chancellor, "after the gracious recommendation
from the Throne at the commencement of the Session — if, after
this Bill has passed through the other House of Parliament,
with a majority so commanding, expressing, in a manner so
marked and decided, the opinion of the representative body of
the nation ; if, after this, owing to any circumstance, the Bill do
not pass and become part of the law of the land, it is impossible
that the firmest mind or the stoutest heart can contemplate the
consequences without something approaching to dismay. The
noble and learned Lord at the table — I call him tlie noble and
learned Lord, because he has declared that he will not allow me
to call him my noble and learned friend — directed me on a former
night to vindicate my consistency. My Lords, I readily accept
the challena;e."
*&"■
He then stontly asserted that he bad never attacked the
principle of Catliolic emancipation, and that he had always
declared that it was a question of expediency, — the Catholics
having an equal right with Protestants to the enjoyment of
all civil riglits, if such equality would not endanger the con-
stitution. Feeling that this was a ticklish topic, a.nd ob-
serving some sceptical smiles and shrugs, notwithstanding
the extreme gravity and decorum ever preserved among
their Lordships, he rapidly passed on to a supposed charge
against him, which he feigned for the purpose of answering
it — of having violated the oath he had taken truly to counsel
the King."
Said he : "I have deeply considered the obligation this oath
has imposed upon me, and, after much deliberation, the result
has been that I came to a firm conclusion in my own mind that
if the stability of the empire were to me, as it ought to be, an
object of deep and intense interest, Ireland must be tranquillized,
and that it was impossible for me not to give the counsel which
I have given to my Sovereign. Have I then violated the oath I
took? Yet the most bitter opprobrium has been cast upon me. I
have been assailed by revilings in the most unmeasured and in
the coarsest terms, because I wish to put an end to the grievous
discontents which have so long prevailed in Ireland. Since I
recently became a responsible adviser of the Crown, I have
possessed the means of arriving at information which I did not
A.D. 1829.
LIFE OF LORD LYXDHUEST. 63
before possess, and which has enabled me to discharge my duty CHAP.
as a faithful counsellor. But the noble and learned Lord at the ^^'
table had been twenty-five years the responsible adviser of
the CrowTi, with the same means of information — during all that
time he saw the distracted state of Ireland and he applied no
remedy to the evil. He did not suggest any considerate line
of policy which was suitable to the manifold disorders of that
afQicted coimtry ; and now he assails that which is brought for-
ward by his successors. He was contented to sit in a divided
cabinet that could not fairly consider the Catholic question, and
whose resolve, as a body, was to grant no further concession
to the Catholics. This, I think, was acting contrary to the
peace of the country, and contrary to the principles of the consti-
tution. I allow that, before the noble and learned Lord was a
member of the Cabinet, he supported measures for the relief of
the Catholics of Ireland, which might have given a much
greater alarm to Protestantism than the Bill now proposed ; for
this Bill only completes, with a small addition, the system then
begun.
"While he was Attorney General in 1791 and 1792, all
disabilities, with a trifling exception, were suddenly removed
from Eoman Catholics ; they were allowed to become magis-
trates ; the army and navy, and all jorofessions, were thrown
open to them; and the elective franchise was conferred upon
them. The noble and learned Lord was a member of the
Cabinet when a measure, on which he had turned out the Whigs
in 1806, quietly passed, for allowing the highest military com-
missions to be held by Eoman Catholic officers. The noble
Lord should not be envious of seeing fully accomplished the
work which he so auspiciously had begun and carried for-
ward.
" The noble and learned Lord's fears are vain ; for Catholics
sat in both Houses long after the Keformation, without any
danger to the reformed faith. This is proved by a speech of
Colonel Birch, who in the course of his argument in the House
of Commons, in the reign of Charles II., said, ' Will you at one
step turn out of both Houses of Parliament so many members ? '
evidently alluding to the Roman Catholics. I state this as one
of the many facts that never were disputed, to show that the
Eoman Catholics sat in Parliament under our Protestant Go-
vernment."
Lord Mdon. " Did the noble and learned Lord know that last
year?"
64
REIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAP
IV.
A.D.
Chancellor. " I confess that I did not : but my Lords, I have
since been prosecuting my studies ; I have advanced in know-
jg2g ledge ; and, in my Inimble opinion, even the noble and learned
Lord might improve himself in the same way."
This sally set the house in a roar ; and being understood
as a good-humoured abandonment of character, procured a
favourable hearing for the Chancellor during the rest of his
speech. This s]3eech for the Catholics was as able as that
which he had delivered against them, although he was said
to be " pitching it too strong," when he urged that emanci-
pation would bring about a conversion of the Catholics to the
reformed faith, which he so dearly loved. He thus con-
cluded : —
" I care not for the personal obloquy which may be cast i;pon
me for advocating this measure ; I have discharged my duty
fearlessly and conscientiously^ and to the best of my ability, and
my most anxious desire, as it would be my greatest consolation,
is to be associated with your Lordships in carrying this Bill into
a law, and thereby to secure upon a permanent basis the happi-
ness and tranquillity of the United Kingdom."
Lord
Eldon's de-
fence of his
own con-
sistency.
Lord Eldon. " I ceased to call the noble and learned Lord
on the woolsack my noble and learned friend, because he accused
me of " disingenuous insinuations,''' — language which I felt to be
extremely disrespectful. But if the noble Lord can reconcile
himself in the House of Commons with himself as a member of
your Lordships' House, I am ready to be reconciled to him, and
to forget all that has passed. I feel, in making these remarks,
that there is a sort of indecorum in such a dispute between a
Chancellor and an Ex-Chancellor; but I cannot refrain from
expressing my astonishment that the noble and learned Lord
should attempt to show that he himself had been consistent by
preferring a charge of inconsistency against me. I have read the
speech of the noble and learned Lord delivered a few months
ago in the House of Commons, and from that sjoeech I have
drawn all the arguments I have used in this House against the
repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, and against what is
called " the Catholic Eelief Bill." Since that speech of the
honourable and learned Lord, there has been no change in the
circumstances of the country, although there is a great change in
the circumstances of the noble and learned Lord. TJis sudden
conversion may be sincere and disinterested, but surely he is
I
LIFE OF LOKD LYNDHURST. 65
not the man to taunt me with inconsistency. Laying my CHAP.
account with obloquy while I was in office, I hoped to have IV.
escaped it when I retired into private life, but I regret to find
that it is still thought a pleasant thing in Parliament to have a ^ "' ^^~^'
slash at the ex-Chancellor." *
The bill was passed by a large majority, and we all laughed
very much at the ex-Chaucellor's fears and prophecies. I by
no means regret what was then done ; and with a perfect
foreknowledge of all that has since happened, I would still
have taken the same course ; but I am sorry to say that we
have not derived from the measure all the benefits which
reasonable men expected from it, and some colour has been
given to the objections of its opponents. Many Eoman
Catholics in Ireland, not contented ^^■ith equality, have aimed
at ascendency, and have shown that with power they would
be intolerant, denying to others the religious liberty which
they had so loudly claimed for themselves. But we can
now resist Roman Catholic aggression more effectually than
if we had continued liable to the reproach of tyranny and
oppression.
Lord Lyndhurst at last carried through his bill for improv-
ing the procedure of the Court of Chancery, and the session
closed. Government had seemed very strong in both houses,
but Lord Lyndhurst declared that he had great apprehen-
sions for the future. The party of the Tories, to which he
had attached himself, was rent asunder ; a large section of
them were eager for revenge upon the authors of the Eman-
cipation Bill at any price, and the cry resounded Nusquam
tuta fides. Still the Whigs were in sad disrepute, and
George IV., who had been for many years their leader, and ^^eath of
under whom they had expected to enjoy uninterrupted sway, june 26,
closed his career as Eegent and as King without once having ^^'^^•
admitted them to office.
A session of Parliament had been begun on the 4th of
February, 1830, but nothing of much interest occurred in it,
for his Majesty was understood to be labouring under a
mortal malady, and parties were prejiaring their measures and
* 21 Hansard, N. S., 190.
VOL. YIIL F
66 EEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
^5^- musterino; their forces with a view to a new reim. The cnr-
rent now running powerfully towards law reform, tlie Chan-
A.D. 1830. cellor proposed several schemes for mitigating the sevei-ity of
the criminal code, and for improving the procedure of the
courts of equity and common law ; but the only bill of any
importance which passed was that which he introduced to
authorize the use of a stamp instead of the King's sign
manual for the purpose of testifying the King's assent to acts
of state. The Chancellor took the opportunity to lament very
tenderly the necessity for such a departure from constitutional
form on account of his Majesty's extreme bodily weakness ; and
he was no doubt very sincere on this occasion, for he had been
a marked favourite at Court ever since his famous speech
against Queen Caroline, and the inclinations of the heir to
the throne were now supposed to be rather in favour of the
party in opposition.
Mistake of Prudcut management might have saved the existing Go-
Weiiino-ton vemmcnt. The ultra Tories were exceedingly hostile to it;
ia courting but many of the Wliigs were disposed to support it, and,
of tiie ultra with a fcw concessious to public opinion, it might have per-
Tories in- manentlv stood. William IV. was contented with the Duke
stead ot the / .
moderate of Wellington and Peel, and neither expressed nor felt any
Liberals. j • p t,
desire lor a change.
It has ever been a wonder to me that Lyndhurst, who well
knew the state of the popular mind, and who himself in-
wardly approved of liberal measures, should not have striven
to induce the Duke of Wellington to accept the aid of that
party who had enabled him to carry Catholic emancipation.
The Duke thought that any further concession would be
mischievous ; and his ill-judged policy now was, by assuming
a high Tory tone, to win back those who had been alienated
from him by his removal of the disabilities of the Dissenters
and the Roman Catholics. In this policy the Lord Chancellor
implicitly acquiesced. He abstained from making any public
declarations by which he might afterwards be hampered ; but
in private he admitted the extreme difficulty which any
Government must encounter in now trying to resuscitate the
doctrines oi j)oUtical optimism.
Although upon a dissolution of Parliament the elections
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 67
rau considerably in favour of tlie Whigs, still the Iron Duke's CHAP,
resolution was maintained to set them at defiance.
One symptom of a liberal tendency was at this time openly a.d. 183u.
exhibited by Lyndhurst. He always declared the doctrine, Lord Chan-
and acted upon it, that the holder of the Great Seal has tlie ce"o'' Lyiwi-
. . . . . nuist ap-
exclusive right of appointing the puisne judges, and ought points all
propria marts to take the pleasure of the Sovereign upon LdJes 0"^
their appointment, without any communication with the ^^^ own
Prime Minister or any other of his colleagues. Two years
before, although a notorious Whig, I had been placed at the
head of the Real Property Commission. This was Peel's
doing: but now L}aidhurst, in a very handsome manner, September.
addressed to me a laudatory epistle, offering to make me a
puisne judge of the Court of King's Bench. I had recently
been returned to the House of Commons for the borou2;h of
Stafford, and, from my position at the bar, 1 was not pre-
pared to be so shelved. But I was nevertheless obliged to
him, and I accompanied my refusal of the offer with very
warm thanks for his kindness.
The public remained in suspense as to the policy of the
government till the delivery of the King's speech on the
opening of the session, and the inference drawn from this was
fatally confirmed by the Duke of Wellington's memorable
declaration that the existing state of parliamentary representa-
tion did not require and did not admit of any improvement.
The ultra-Tories Avere in no degree appeased, and they loudly
vociferated that they would sooner see in office men wlio had
always consistently supported Whiggism than men who had
treacherously paltered with their vows to defend Church and
King. The Duke of W^ellington's government was therefore Nov. 1:..
doomed to destruction, and it ingloriously fell by a division
on a triflino; motion in the House of Commons for a committee
to inquire into the expenditure of the civil list.
F 2
68 EEIGN OP WILLIAM IV.
CHAPTER V.
LORD CHIEF BARON,
January, 1831 — November, 1834.
CHAP. Lyndhurst, who had already been Chancellor under three
successive premiers holding very opposite opinions, was not
A.D. 1830. without hopes that he might have continued to hold his
Intrigue for officc uudor a fourtli, and he would have been very ready
continuing j-^ goalesce with the new Whig Government, pleading as his
Lyndhurst .'^ . . * ^
as Chan- excuso that it was to comprise his old chief Lord Goderich,
Lord c'l'^ey!' ^^^w Earl of Ripou, the Duke of Richmond, who had been
a conspicuous Tory, and the once Tory Lord Palmerston,
with other associates of Canning. Strange to say, Lord Grey
was by no means disinclined to this arrangement. He ex-
pressed high respect for the talents of the Duke of Welling-
ton's Chancellor — particularly as displayed in his exposition
of the Regency Bill, which was still pending in the House,
and which " it was desirable that he should carry through."
jS'ov 15 '^^^iii bill Lord Lyndhurst had introduced in the House of
Lords the very same night in which the disastrous division
had taken place in the House of Commons on the Civil List.
The object of it was to make the Duchess of Kent Regent in
case William IV. should die before the Princess Victoria, then
heir presumptive to the crown, and only twelve years old,
should have completed her eighteenth year.
Li laying it on the table the Chancellor certainly did take
a most masterly view of the constitutional law upon the
subject, — illustrated by very interesting allusions to what
had been done in this and other countries on similar occa-
sions. He likewise alluded, with much delicacy, to the
contingency of the Queen being enceinte at the death of
the King, and giving birth to a child after the Princess
Victoria should be placed upon the throne. However, there
was little difference of opinion as to the fitness of the
LIFE OF LOKD LYNDHUKST. 69
measure ; and it might easily have been carried through its CHAP,
subsequent stages, even if it had been opposed by its versatile '
author. Lord Grey's real motive, I believe, was, that he a.d. iS30.
might avoid handing over the Great Seal to Brougham, of
whose temerity and insubordination he had a most distressing
anticiiJation, Some alleged that, not insensible in old age
to the influence of female charms, the venerable AVhig Earl
had been captivated by the beauty and lively manners of
Lady Lyndhurst, and that her bright eyes were new argu-
ments shot against a transfer of the Great Seal. However Biougham
this may be, it is certain that he offered Brougham the office and^obtafns"
of Attorney General, meaning to soften the proposal with an t'^e *^'ie'>i
enumeration of some of the illustrious men who had held the
office, and a representation of the importance to the new
Government that the newly elected member for the county
of York should remain in the House of Commons. But
Brougham burst away from Lord Grey with indignation;
and, this being the very day fixed, by a notice wliicli he had ^'o^'- ^'>-
given in the House of Commons before the Duke of Welling-
ton's resignation, for his motion on parliamentary reform, he
hurried down to St. Stephen's with the determination of
immediately bringing it on. As such a step would have
destroyed the new Government while yet in embryo, he was
earnestly entreated to desist from his purpose ; and he
yielded, but making use of language which clearly indicated
that he would only consent to become a supporter of Lord
Grey's administration on his own terms : —
" I beg it to be understood that what I do, I do in deference to
the wishes of the House. And farther, as no change that can taJce place
in tlie administration can hy any possihility affect me, I beg to be under-
stood that, in putting off the motion, I will put it off until the
2oth of this month and no longer. I will then, and at no more
distant period, bring forward the question of parliamentary
reform, ichatever may he the condition of circumstances, and whosoever
may he his Majesty's Minister's." *
I know not if Lord Grey exclaimed, as I once heard him
do upon a similar " fiare up " of the same person, " The fat is
* Hansard, i. 562. Henceforth the Srd series of Hansard is to be under-
stood as quoted.
70
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1830.
Lyndhurst
becomes
Lord Cliief
Baron of
the Court
of Ex-
chequer.
all in the fire ;" but he instantly renounced all notion of
Lyndhurst being his Chancellor, and before " the 2.jth of the
month," when the question of Parliamentary Keform was
without fail to have been brought forward in the House of
Commons by the honourable member for the county of York,
" whosoever might be his 3Iajestys Ministers," the Eight
Honourable Henry Lord Brougham and Vaux took his seat
on the woolsack in the House of Lords.
Still, the object of attaching the Tory ex-Chancellor to the
Whig Government was by no means abandoned. He was
asked by the new Premier to continue to take charge of the
Eegency Bill, with many compliments to his eloquence and
ability, which were very complacently received. A scheme
was soon after devised and carried out, which it was thought
would take off all danger of Lyndhurst's active opposition, if
he should not be quite contented with his new position.
Alexander, the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, was asked to
resign. He was willing to do so on condition of having a
peerage, to which he had no just pretension. This would
have caused some scandal; and a hint was thrown out to
Alexander, by a friend of the new Government, that some
notice w'as threatened in the House of Commons of his
unfitness to continue on the bench by reason of his age and
infirmities. Alexander thereupon agreed to resign uncon-
ditionally; and his office was offered to Lyndhurst. Hitherto
there never had been an instance of a Lord Chancellor or
Lord Keeper, after resigning the Great Seal, becoming a
common law Judge ; but there was no objection to it in
point of law, nor would the supposed breach of etiquette be
blamed by any one whose opinion was worth regarding.
Lyndhurst had sufficient confidence in his ow^n powers to
support his dignity ; and the offer of a place for life, with
a salary of 7000^. a year, was very tempting to him, for,
although he could contrive to prevent executions being put
into his house, he was exceedingly poor, and the retired
allowance for a Chancellor was then only 4000Z. a year, — an
income quite inadequate to support Lady Lyndhurst's fashion-
able establishment. Accordingly, on the first day of Hilary
Terra, 1831, the ex-Chancellor took his seat on the Bench
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 71
as Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer. I ought to state CHAP.
that, accepting this office, lie gave no pledge whatever to '
support Lord Grey's government. Ko doubt great disap- ad. I83i.
pointment was felt when he suddenly became the leader of
the Opposition in the House of Lords ; but in all the bitter
struggles that followed, and amidst the many provocations
he gave by the violent and unfair means he resorted to for
the purpose of defeating the measures of the Whigs, I never
heard, either in public or private, any taunt thrown out
against him on the supposition that the course he took was
contrary to good faith.
He continued to preside in the Court of Exchequer four His high
years, again showing that, if he had liked, he might have amnmon-
earned the very highest reputation for judicial excellence, law Judge.
I did not regularly practise before him, but I often went
into his court, particularly in revenue causes, after I became
a law officer of the Crown, and as often I admired liis
wonderful quickness of apprehension, his forcible and logical
reasoning, his skilful commixture of sound law and common
sense, and his clear, convincing, and dignified judgments.
He was a great favourite with the bar on account of his
general courtesy, although he has told me that he acted
upon the principle that " it is the duty of a Judge to make
it disagreeable to counsel to talk nonsense." He regularly
went circuits, saying that " he thought it pleasanter to try
larcenies and highway robberies than to listen to seven
Chancery lawyers on the same side upon exceptions to the
Master's report." He declared that he was even pleased
with what Judges generally find intolerable — the duty of
receiving the country gentlemen at dinner, when the labours
of the day are supposed to be over ; but he averred that he
not only could make himself entertaining to them, but that
he could make them entertaining to himself in return.
Still he would not heartily give his mind to his judicial
business. His opinion was, and is, of small weiglit in
AVestminster Hall; and I do not recollect any case being
decided on any judgment or dictum of his. It was only
while he was in court that he cared for or thought of the
causes he had to dispose of. The rest of his time he spent
72
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1831.
Query
whether
any excep-
tion to his
imparti-
ality?
His wonder-
fill power
of memory
exhibited
in the case
of Small V.
Attwood.
in attending the debates of tlie House of Lords, or in forming
cabals with bis political partisans, or at the festal board.
He had for a puisne Bayley, who, having been a Judge of
the King's Bench, had come into the Exchequer, from being
tired of Lord Tenterden. On this learned and laborious
coadjutor Lyndhurst relied entirely. The pure law so
supplied he knew how to extract from the quartz in which
it was mixed up, and to exhibit as if he himself had dug it
up resplendent from the mine, or had long held it in his
private purse.
I never suspected him of partiality, except on the trial of
a cause of Dicas v. Lord Brougham. This was an unfounded
action for false imprisonment, brought by a blackguard
attorney against Lord Chancellor Brougham, at a time when
there was a great enmity (followed by a strict friendship)
between the noble defendant and the judge. I must say I
tliought the latter on this occasion showed a strong inclina-
tion to push his rival into a scrape ; but, if this inclination
actually existed, it might have proceeded from a love of fun,
rather than from rancour or malice. I myself was sued by
the same attorney, in the Court of Exchequei-, for defamation
in my speech against him as counsel for the defendant in
this very cause, and I must confess I was rather uneasy at
the thought of my trial coming on before the Lord Chief
Baron, as I dreaded lest, to have a laugh against me, he
might leave this question to the jury in such a way as to
induce them to find a verdict against me. Luckily my
antagonist had not the courage to proceed to trial, and at
last I had "judgment against him as in case of a nonsuit."
In the time of Lord Chief Baron Lyndhurst the Exchequer
was a court of equity as well as a court of law ; but the equity
business was disposed of by a single judge, and, caring little
about it, the Chief Baron generally handed it over to Mr.
Baron Alderson. One equity case, however, he was required
to hear on account of its magnitude {Small v. Attwood), and it
turned out heavier (in legal phrase) than any case ever
tried in England ; for the hearing, from first to last, occupied
a greater number of hours than the trial of Mr. Hastings. It
arose out of a contract for the sale of iron-mines in the county
LIFE OP LORD LYNDHURST. 73
of Stafford ; and the question was, whether the contract was CHAP,
not vitiated by certain alleged fraudulent representations of '
the vendor. The leading counsel had a brief, endorsed with a.u. 1S31.
a fee of 5000 guineas ; many days were occupied in reading
the depositions, and weeks in the comments upon them.
The Chief Baron paid unwearied attention to the evidence
and the arguments, and at last delivered (by all accounts) the
most wonderful judgment ever heard in Westminster Hall.
It was entirely oral, and, without even referring to any notes,
he employed a long day in stating complicated facts, in
entering into complex calculations, and in correcting the
misrepresentations of the counsel on both sides. Never once
did he falter or hesitate, and never once was he mistaken in
a name, a figure, or a date. Nevertheless, it was finally held
that he had come to a wrong conclusion on the merits. The
decree being that the contract was void, an appeal was
brought in the House of Lords, the hearing of which lasted
nearly a whole session. Time for consideration was taken till
the following session : and then Lord Cottenhara, Chancellor,
and Lord Brougham, ex-Chancellor, declared their opinion
to be that the decree must be reversed. Lord Lvndhurst
adhered to his original opinion, and defended it in a speech
which again astounded all who heard it, by the unexampled
power of memory and lucidness of arrangement by which it
was distinguished. But this final judgment was not pro-
nounced till many years after the era to which I had brought
my narrative, — viz. the commencement of Lord Grey's ad-
ministration, and to this I must now revert.
It would appear that from the moment Lyndhurst was ap- Chief Baron
pointed Chief Baron he had resolved to go into oj)position, and J^^^ ^^^^
I must confess that I think the Whigs were very silly in ex- ^''o"?
1 • rni /--< n 1 1 • • i /> Opposition.
pectmg his support, ihe Crreat beat being m the grasp of
one of them, who it was supposed must hold it as long as
they were in power, no further promotion was open to the
supposed new ally, except to the office of Chief Justice of
the King's Bench. For this he would have been admirably
well suited, and its increased salary would have pleased him ;
but he shrunk from the heavy and responsible duties belong-
ing to it, which lie could not cast upon another, and which
74
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1831.
The Reform
Bill in the
House of
Commons.
Lyndhui'st's
behaviour
on the sud-
den dissolu-
tion of
I'ailiament.
would have interfered, not only with his social enjoyment, but
with his poHtical intrigues. There was a strong probability
of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel being soon
restored to office, for Lord Grey and his colleagues, at start-
ing, by no means enjoyed public confidence, and they had
committed som.e financial blunders wliich made it be sup-
posed that their reign would be very short. Nor could it be
said that honour forbade Lyndhurst to follow the course which
interest pointed out to him, for, in accepting a purely judicial
office, he could not be considered as changing iiis politics, so
as to entitle his former associates to renounce him as a rene-
gade, or his new patrons to claim him as a convert. He was
very moderate and reserved, however, till the Reform Bill
was brought forward. Then he led, and thenceforth he long
continued to lead, the most violent and factious opposition I
have ever known or read of in our party annals.
During the first half of the session he confined himself in
the House of Lords to commenting upon certain bills pro-
posed by the Lord Chancellor for reforming the Court of
Chancery, and for establishing new local courts and a new
Court of Bankruptcy — doing the best he could to disparage
all these measures, but in a tone of great moderation and
courtesy. Meanwhile, he was privately taken into council by
the opponents of the Eeform Bill, from its introduction
into the House of Commons ; and they were chiefly guided
by his advice till he committed a gross blunder, by which
the bill was j)assed in. the most obnoxious form given to it by
its authors ; whereas, by more skilful management, it might
have been materially altered according to the wishes of its
enemies.
General Gascoigne's resolution against reducing the num-
ber of English representatives, of which Lyndhurst aj^proved,
was a very dexterous move, but was turned to the decided
advantage of the Eeformers by an immediate dissolution of
Parliament.
This coup Avas wholly unexpected by Lord Lyndhurst, and
he left the bench of the Court of Exchequer in seeming con-
sternation on hearing that, without any previous notice, the
King was on his way to announce it from the throne. He
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 75
Imrried to the House of Lords, which he found in a state of CHAP,
confusion unexampled since the dispersion of the Lono- ^'
Parliament by Oliver Cromwell. According to Hansard, a.d. 1831.
four Lords having simultaneously risen to order, "Lord Lynd- --'^*^^P"'-
hurst also rose, but the noise in the House was so great that
it was almost impossible to hear what the noble Lord said.
He was understood to object to the conduct of the Duke of
Richmond, one of the four who had been speaking to order
at the same time, sajing ' there was nothing in their Lord-
ships' proceedings so disorderly as the interference of the
noble Duke.' The Duke of Richmond moved that the stand-
ing order should be read against the use of offensive language
by noble Lords in that House. The Marquess of Londonderry
denied that any offensive language had been used by the Lord
Chief Baron. The Marquess of Clanricarde insisted that the
Chief Baron's language and manner justified the motion for
reading tlie standing order. [Cries of Order, order. Shame,
shame. The King, the King.'\ At last his Majesty entered,
and, having mounted the throne, thus began : ' My Lords and
Gentlemen, I have come to meet you for the purpose of
proroguing this Parliament, with a view to its immediate
dissolution.' " *
Lord Lyndhurst, although generally possessing great pre-
sence of mind and showing a bold front, if suddenly discon-
certed looks very wooden, and he is said to have done so on
this occasion ; but he soon recovered his composure, saying
to a friend with whom he left the House, " All is not lost."
The turn which the elections took was rather appalling to
anti-reformers, but the Lord Chief Baron had " courage never
to submit or yield."
On the meeting of the new Parliament, while the Reform
Bill was passing through the House of Commons, he attended
private conferences to consider the best mode of obstructing
it ; but he took no part in the preliminary skirmishes which
arose on the presenting of petitions for or against it, reserving
himself for the grand conflict on the second reading. When The Reform
this arrived he displayed extraordinary ability and extra- ?''^ '° *l"^
■'■•'. . •' •' House ol
ordinary hardihood, which mainly contributed to the tern- Lords.
* 3 Hansard, 180G.
76
KEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1831.
Lyndhurst's
speech
against it
on the
second read-
ing.
jiorary victory tlien won. He spoke on the fifth night of the
debate, immediately after Lord Chancellor Brougham.
Thus did he modestly begin : —
" After the splendid declamation, my Lords, which you have
jnst heard from my noble and learned friend, Avhich has never
been surpassed on any occasion even by the noble and learned
Lord himself, it is no matter of surprise that I should present
myself to j-our Lordships with great hesitation and anxiety ;
but feeling the situation in which I now stand, and recollecting
the position which I formerly had the honour of holding in this
House, I presume it would be considered a shrinking from an
imperious duty if I satisfied myself by giving a silent vote on
an occasion so momentous."
After throwing out some general observations indicating
an inclination in favour of well-considered reform, he said, —
" But I feel it my duty to oppose this measure, because it
appears to me not calculated to support the just prerogatives
of the Crown, but to destroy them — not of a nature to establish
the authority of this house, but to undermine and overthrow that
authority — not to promote the rights and liberties of the people,
but to destroy them."
He then resorted to his favourite manoeuvre ; he accused
his antagonists of political inconsistency, bringing forward
passages from speeches and writings of Lord Grey, Lord
John Kussell, Lord Melbourne, nay, of Lord Brougham
himself, expressing a favourable opinion of the existing House
of Commons, and pointing out the danger of rashly changing
the constituent bodies by which it is returned, suppressing
the fact that these opinions were brought forward to combat
universal suffrage, or some such chimera. He then pro-
ceeded to point out the fatal eftects of the proposed reform
upon all classes, beginning with the lawyers : —
" Among certain persons, I know that gentlemen connected
with the profession of the law are not considered of much im-
portance ; but, my Lords, in times of trouble and danger this
opinion becomes doubly erroneous. There are few men in such
times who are so important — active agitators — keen and intel-
ligent — prepared for a stirring life by previous education
and habits. By what means have you secured for them an
entrance into the House of Commons ? None ! But they will
A.D. 1831.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHTTRST. 77
become agitators, — they will excite public feeling, and make CHAP.
extravagant promises, in order to secure themselves a share in ^"
the representation. These active, intelligent, and ambitious men
will necessarily therefore throw themselves into the democratic
scale, and give it a fearful preponderance. The House of Com-
mons, in which I have served a long apprenticeship, I know
will become an unmanageable democratic body. To the monarchical
institutions of the country I have been attached both by habit and educa-
tion. I do not wish for a change which may affect the rights and
privileges of the Crown, nor for one which will bring about a
professed republic, or a republic in the shape of a limited mo-
narchy. Eepublics are tyrannical, capricious, and cruel. I do
not charge the ministers with having introduced the bill for
the purpose of subverting our form of government ; but such will
be its certain effect. You are ^called upon to open the flood-
gates which will admit the torrent of democratic power. That
torrent will rush in and overpower us. The noble and learned
Lord on the woolsack, with his buoyancy and nimbleness, may
for a time float upon the tide, and play his gambols on the
surface, but the least check will submerge him, and he will sink
to rise no more."
In his peroration the orator made a magnanimous allusion
to his origin : —
" I cannot boast an illustrious descent. I have sprung from
the people. I owe the situation I have the honour to hold in
this House to the generous kindness of my late sovereign, — a
monarch largely endowed with great and princely qualities. I
am proud of being thus associated with the descendants of those
illustrious names which have shed lustre upon the history of our
country. But if I thought that your Lordships were capable of
being influenced by the threats which have been audaciously
held out to you, and that you should be so induced to swerve
from the discharge of your duty when everything valuable in
our institutions is at stake, I should be ashamed of this dignity,
and take refuge from it in the comparative obscurity of private
life, rather than mix with men so unmindful of the obligations
imposed, upon them by their high station and illustrious birth.
Perilous as is the situation in which we are placed, it is, at the
same time, a proud one, — the eyes of the country are anxiously
turned upon us, and, if we decide as becomes us, we shall merit
the eternal gratitude of every friend of the constitution, and of
the British empire."
Earl Grey, in an admirable reply, touched very cuttingly
78 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
, CHAP, on Lord Lyndhurst's charges of inconsistency, tannted him
• with his sudden conversion to Catholic eroancipation, and
^.D. 1831. hinted very intelligibly at his former democratic opinions.
Lyndhurst's When he had concluded, a memorable scene took place,
claim to >^vhich I nivself witnessed, standing on the steps of the throne.^
consistency. •' ^ o x
Lord Lyndhiirst. — " The noble Earl has been pleased in the
course of his speech to allude to me, and he seemed to consider
that at one period of my life I entertained opinions opposed to
those I now avow and act upon. But, if the noble Earl enter-
tains any such impressions, I beg to assure him that he is grossly
misinformed, and utterly mistaken."
Earl Grey. — " My Lords, I did understand that the noble and
learned Lord at one period of his life entertained opinions favour-
able to the consideration of the question of parliamentary reform."
Lord Lyndlmrst. — " Nevkr ! "
Lord Denman, who had gone the circuit with Lyndhurst,
and full Avell knew what those opinions had been, was then
standing by me. Shaking his fist in a manner which made
me afraid that he would draw upon himself the notice of the
House, he exclaimed, " Villain! lying villain!" But, in reality,
Avhat the noble and learned Lord said was literally true, for
at the period of his life alluded to he was not favourable to
parliamentary reform, but wished Parliament to be abolished,
that a National Convention might be established in its
place.
Oct. 7. Upon a division, the second reading of the bill was nega-
tived by a majority of forty-one peers.
The Reform Lord Lyndhurst was in hopes that ministers would resign,
iiitroduMd. ai^c^ that the Great Seal would again be in his possession ; but
this event, though decreed by fate, was delayed for several
stormy and anxious years.
The session was speedily closed, that, according to parlia-
mentary usage, the Keform Bill might be again introduced
Dec. 6. into Parliament ; and upon the two Houses reassembling,
after a recess of a few weeks, his IMajesty, in his speech from
the throne, began with saying, " I feel it to be my duty, in
the first place, to recommend to your most careful considera-
tion the measures which will be proposed to you for a reform
in the Commons House of Parliament ; a speedy and satis-
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 79
factory settlement of this question becomes daily of more CHAP.
pressing importance to the security of the state, and to the '
reading.
content and welfare of my people." The new Bill was forth- a.d. 1832.
with launched in the House of Commons, but it did not
reach the Lords till the month of April in the following year.
Lyndhurst's hostility to it remained unabated, and, notwith-
standing the strong feeling in favour of reform then mani-
fested by the great bulk of the nation, he was resolved again
to reject it on the second reading. He spoke against it on Lyndhurst's
the fourth night of the debate, and, in allusion to Lord JSstiton
Grey's pledge that it should be as efficient as the former the second
bill, he said, " It is as efficient, and, according to my inter-
pretation of its provisions, as mischievous and as flagrant. I
have considered, with great care, whether I was right in the
decision at which I formerly arrived, and all my meditations
and inquiries have satisfied me that it is imjDossible for me to
pursue any other course."
The grand question now being whether, if necessary, there
should be a large creation of new peers to carry tlie bill,
Lyndhurst said, "I do not impute to the noble Earl the
intention of resorting to such a rash, and desperate, and
wicked measure, which would overwhelm him with disgrace,
and the country with ruin." He then entered into a very
invidious classification of the supporters of the bill. First,
came the whole body of Dissenters, whom he severely stigma-
tised. Then the numerous band of persons without property
or virtue, quoting the words of the Roman historian, " Nam
semper in civitate quibus opes nullce sint, bonis invident, malos
extolliLut, Vetera odere, nova exoptant ; odio suarum rerum
mutari omnia student." Next he specified the conductors of
the daily press, — whether as a subdivision of the last class
was left doubtful. " Of these," said he, "a great proportion
support this measm'e because they prosper by agitation.
Besides, they see that, in proportion as the principle of demo-
cracy is advanced, they rise in their condition. Their personal
ambition has encouragements which in no otlier state of
society could be offered to them."* He concluded by conjuring
* Lyndhurst afterwards felt that he had eommitted a great blunder hy this
onslaught on the genus irrltabile of " Gentlemen of the Press ; " and to appease
80
KEIGN OF WILLIAM IV,
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1832.
Great
blunder
committed
by Lynd-
hurst in the
Committee.
their Lordsliips " to lay aside all temporizing policy, which
must assuredly, if they should be weak enough to entertain
it, prove their destruction." *
The peers were as hostile as ever; but they quailed
when they considered the consequences of the entire rejec-
tion of the bill on the second reading, which would have
amounted to a declaration that they never would agree to
any disfranchisement, or enfranchisement, or extension of
the suffrage ; and a section of them thought that the more
expedient course would be to mutilate the bill in Committee,
so that its authors might be placed in circumstances of great
embarrassment, between the choice of being discredited with
the public by submission, or, by resistance, of quarrelling
with the King, who had become much more cool in the cause
of reform than when he had proposed to jump into a hackney
coach, that he might hurry off to dissolve Parliament. Accord-
ingly, the second reading was carried by a majority of
nine.
The enemies of the bill might now substantially have
defeated it, or greatly modified it by rescuing a number of
condemned boroughs from Schedule A, by raising the quali-
fication of the metropolitan constituencies, and by adding to
the number of the county members, so as to have preserved
to a considerable degree the ascendency of the aristocracy in
parliamentary representation. But Lord Lyndhurst's indis-
cretion gave a complete triumph to those who shouted out,
" The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill."
When the peers were to discuss the bill clause by clause
in Committee, he resorted to a manoeuvre which he thought
very clever, but which was not only transparent, but clumsily
executed. He moved that the disfranchising clauses with
which the bill began should be postponed till the enfran-
chising clauses were disposed of ; this he did in a speecli
against all disfranchisement, clearly betraying his purpose
to defeat the measure altogether. The Duke of Welling-
ton and the whole Tory party, confiding in his prudence,
them he presided at an anniversary dinner of their society, when he extolled
their abilities and accomplishments, and asserted that literature, science, and
good government rested mainly on their exertions. * 12 Hansard, 428.
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUKST. 81
altlioufrli w^isliino- that he had taken a more straie-htforward CHAP,
course, rallied round him, and his amendment was carried '
by a large majority. When the division was announced, he a.d. 1832.
chuckled exceedingly, and in a stage whisper exclaimed,
" Grey is checkmated ! "
There had been no such crisis in England since the expul- Crisis on
sion of James II. It is impossible to deny that the Eeform between'the
Bill was a revolution, by suddenly transferring supreme King and
power from one body in the state to another, — from an ters about
oli2:archy to the middle orders, — althouo-h it was intended that ^y*^-''*'"?
o J ' o ^ Peers to
the transfer should be made without physical force, and pass the Re-
according to constitutional forms. There was now serious "^"^ ' '
danger of civil war, for a probability appeared that the
executive government would be speedily in the hands of men
prepared to defend the existing order of things to the last
extremity, and there were hundreds of thousands in the great
provincial towns ready to march to the metropolis for the
Bill, and to sacrifice their lives in its defence.
Lord Grey determining, without hesitation, that he would
not submit to the amendment which had been earned, and
thinking that it did not become him to leave the country with-
out a government, while such a misfortune coukl possibly be
warded off, immediately waited upon the King, and repre-
sented to him that the only mode of avoiding a public con-
vulsion was for his Majesty to consent to the creation of a
sufficient number of new peers to constitute a majority in
favour of the Eeform Bill. The King firmly refused ; and he
cannot be blamed for refusing, as such a step could be
considered only a couj) d'etat, and he had been told by persons
about him that there was no necessity for it, as a majority of
the peers were now ready to yield a large measure of reform,
although they would not agree to the ruin of their order.
Lord Grey and his colleagues thereupon tendered their resig-
nation, which was graciously accepted.
Now was the most -splendid moment of Lyndhurst's career. May oth.
One fine morning, while he was sitting in the Court of Ex-
chequer, listening to the argument on a special demurrer,
and asking Bayley which Avay he should, give judgment, a
letter was delivered to him from Sii' Herbert Taylor, the
VOL. VIII. G
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. King's private Secretary, requiring liis immediate attendance
' at St. James's palace. From a King's messenger being the
A.D. 1832. bearer of the letter, the fact was immediately known all over
Lyndhurst Westminster Hall, and I well remember the sensation excited
the Khio- L iii the Court of King's Bench by the loud whisper — " The
be the head Chief BaroD has been sent for." He immediately unrobed,
of a new i • n • • i i
Govern- and in a tew minutes he was m the royal presence.
™^"*' I never heard him relate the particulars of this audience,
and the accounts of it circulated at the time were probably
founded rather on conjecture than authentic information.
The King, after the ceremonial salutation had taken place,
was supposed to have said to him : — " I have great coniideuce
in you, my lord, and I consider you a very honest man. I
M'ish you to be my adviser in this conjuncture ; but there is
only one preliminary difficulty to be got over. You must
know that my royal word is pledged to granting a liberal
measure of parliamentary reform, and this nothing shall
induce me to break, although my late ministers are for going
farther than is necessary, or perhaps safe. But I have heard
that your Lordship is conscientiously persuaded that all
reform would be mischievous, and that the representation
ought to remain as it is, without any innovation. Now, if
these are your sentiments, I fear I cannot have your aid in
this emergency." — Chief Baron. — "Sir, — Your Majesty has
been entirely misinformed on this subject. True, I have
been always opposed to the wild, democratical, Jacobinical
principles which generated the liorrors of the French Be volu-
tion; but I have long seen the necessity for temj)erate,
well-considered reform in our representative system, to bring
it back to what it was in the reign of your royal ancestor,
Edward I. Your Majesty, I hope, will pardon me for saying
that the Reform Bill of your late ministers as it now stands
would, in my opinion, be fatal to the monarchy, and for that
reason I have been driven very reluctantly to oppose it. But
it no doubt contains enactments which may be salutary, and,
if it could be reasonably modified, it might strengthen the
Crown, while it gives contentment to your Majesty's subjects."
King. — "My Lord Chief Baron, my Lord Chief Baron, you
are the very man for me : you have hit upon the basis I wish
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUEST. 83
for my new administration. If a majority of the Lords would CHAP,
have accepted the Bill as it is, I should not have withheld the '
royal assent, although my private opinion is that it may a.d. 1832.
injuriously interfere with the efficiency of the Executive
Government; but I find that it cannot be constitutionally
carried through both Houses of Parliament." Chief Baron. —
"If your Majesty's late advisers refuse all compromise, I
should think that your Majesty's patriotic intentions might
be fully carried into effect by calling to your councils those
who may approve of a measure of reform such as the Lords
may agree to, and such as will accord with the royal pledge
which your Majesty is so anxious to fulfil." After a good
deal of further discussion in the same strain, it was agreed
that Lord Lyndhurst should sound the leaders of the Tory
party, as to the formation of a new administration to carry
a modified Keform Bill.
He first went to Sir Eobert Peel, who treated the proposal
with scorn. But, to his great delight and surprise after this
rebuffj he found the Duke of Wellington ready to make the
attem]3t. This illustrious man had very peculiar notions of
his duty to the Crown ; and, although, in November, 1830, he
had pronounced our representative system to be an absolute
piece of perfection, yet as King William, both in speeches
from the throne prepared for him, and by voluntary private
declarations, had expressed an opinion that some change
in the system was necessary, the monarchical patriot was
willing to make a sacrifice of his own consistency to ex-
tricate the government of the country from the seemingly
inextricable difficulty in which it was involved. He therefore
professed his readiness to serve in the new cabinet, in any ca-
pacity in which his services might be deemed most available.
Lyndhurst seemed now to have the premiership within his
grasp, although it turned out to be a phantom. Instead of
trying to clutch it, however, he thought the more discreet
course would be to content himself with the resumjition of The Duke
the Great Seal. ton, iV"^"
Therefore, having by appointment gone down to Windsor Lyndhuvst's
in the evening of the following day, he explained to the be at the
King the Duke of Wellington's willingness to comply with g'^o^grn-*^^
G 2 mcnt.
84
KEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1S32.
May 14.
The new
Govei-n-
ment ex-
tinguished.
Lord Gi
restored.
■ey
his Majesty's wishes, and tendered the advice that his Grace
should immediately be sent for, and commissioned to submit
a list of a new administration, with the Duke himself at the
head of it.
This was accordingly done, and the Duke gallantly under-
took the task, although fully aware of the troubles in which
it must involve him. He first received an alarming check
from an address of the House of Commons to the King,
carried by a large majority, expressing deep regret at the
resignation of the late ministers, and praying that his Majesty
would not call to his counsels any others who were not pre-
pared to sujiport the Eeform Bill in its integrity. Neverthe-
less, he persevered, and he had obtahied the consent of
respectable though second-rate men, to fill the most im-
portant ofSces of the new government, of which it was under-
stood that Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst was to be the soul.
But there was soon an appalling explosion of public opinion
against it ; and it was condemned, not only by Whigs and
Kadicals, who were Reformers, but by a considerable section
of the Tory party, headed by Sir Robert Inglis, the consistent
and popular representative for the University of Oxford.
Still, the general opinion was that the Lyndhurst adminis-
tration would, at least, be installed, till the embryo was
extinguished during a discussion which took place in the
House of Commons on the presentation of a petition in
favour of the Reform Bill from the City of London. Such
weakness was then displayed by the defenders of the new
government, and such strong censure was poured upon its
originator from all quarters, that, although the House came
to no vote upon the subject, every one felt that Lord Grey
and his colleagues must be recalled.
With the concurrence of Lyndhurst, the Duke of Wellington
had waited on the King, and announced to him that the
formation of a new government was impossible, and Sir
Herbert Taylor had written a letter to Lord Grey, requiring
his presence in the royal closet. When the minister and his
Majesty met, the condition of the Wliigs resuming office
was speedily conceded as a matter of necessity, — both parties
still entertaining a hope that the power to create new peers
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHDEST. 85
would be sufficient, without the threatened ■wound to the CHAP,
constitution being actually inflicted. '
When explanations of these proceedings were given in the a.d. i832.
House of Lords, the Duke of Wellington said : — May 17.
" His Majesty was graciously pleased, on that very day w^hen
he was left entirely alone by his ministers, to send for a noble
and learned friend of mine, who had held a high place as well in
the service as in the confidence of his Majesty, to inquire if, in
his opinion, there were any means, and, if so, Avhat means of
forming a government for his Majesty on the principle of carry-
ing an extensive reform in the representation of the people. My
noble and learned friend informed me of his Majesty's situation,
and I considered it my duty to enquire from others, for I was as
unprepared as his Majesty for the consideration of such a ques-
tion. I then found that a large number of friends of mine were
not unwilling to give their support to a government formed
upon such a priuciple, and with the positive view of resistance
to that advice which had been tendered to his Majesty respecting
the means of carrying the Eeform Bill in its present shape. I
did not look to any objects of ambition, I advised him to seek
the assistance of other persons to fill the high situations in the
State, expressing myself willing to give his Majesty all assistance,
whether in office or oi;t of office, to enable his Majesty to resist
the advice to which I have referred."
After pointing out, at considerable length, the unconstitu-
tional character and the mischievous consequences of the
proposed creation of peers, he thus concluded : —
" Under these circumstances, I believe your Lordships will
not think it unnatural, when I considered his Majesty's situation,
that I should endeavour to assist his Majesty. But, my Lords,
when I found that in consequence of the discussions in another
place it was impossible to form a government on the proposed
principle which would secure the confidence of the country, I
felt it my duty to inform his Majesty that I could not fulfil the
commission with which he was pleased to honour me, and his
Majesty infoiTaed me that he would renew his communications
with his former ministry."
Lord Lyndhurst, immediately following, said, —
" My Lords, I am anxious to explain my part in these transac- Lyndhnrst's
tions. I feel it a duty I owe to my Sovereign — a duty I owe to hL^conduft
the country — a duty I owe to your Lordships' House, and, if in this af-
fair.
86 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
V.
A.D. 1832
CHAP, your Lordships allow me to say so, a duty which I owe to
myself. On the day when his Majesty accepted the resignations
of the late ministers, he was graciously pleased to desire me to
attend him at St. James's. I had had no previous communication
with his Majesty for a long period."
Having stated, in vague terms, the commission he received
from the King, who sent for him as his former Chancellor, to
consult him in the extraordinary crisis which had arisen, he
thus proceeded : —
" I, of course (as it was my bonnden duty to do), obeyed his
Majesty. I should have basely shrunk from my duty if I had
declined. In consequence of this interview I waited upon my
noble friend the illustrious Duke, and communicated to him the
task which had been imposed upon me by my Sovereign, and
the distressing position in which his Majesty was placed."
He relates his conversation Avith the Duke of Wellington,
but is silent as to what passed between him and Sir Robert
Peel, and thus continues : —
" I communicated the result of my inquiry to his Majesty at
the time appointed; all that was best calculated to afford him
assistance — all that I had heard, all that I had learned — the
result of my own meditations, I frankly communicated to my
sovereign. His Majesty requested me to invite my noble and
gallant friend to call upon him ; I did so, and thus my mission
terminated. It is for this, my Lords, of which I have now given
you a full and faithful narrative, that I have been traduced,
maligned, calumniated."
Having mentioned calumnies upon him in the press, he
thus replied to a sj^eech made against him in the House of
Commons by Sir Francis Burdett : —
" He is reported to have affirmed that I acted inconsistently
with my duty as a Judge of the land. I say that if he asserted
this, he must, taking it at the best, be ignorant of the constitution
of the country. He ought to know that, as a member of the
Privy Council, I am bound by virtue of my office to give advice
to my sovereign if he requires it. More than this, he ought to
know, if he knows anything of the Constitution, that I have
taken an oath to this effect ; and more, he ought to know that as
a Judge I am hound to volunteer my advice to his Majesty if I consider
any proposed course of proceeding inimical to the safety of the Grown.
My Lords, excuse me if I go one step farther ; he has charged
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUKST.
me, as a Judge, with being the leader of a violent and virulent
party in this House. Whether there is or is not such a faction
in this House I will not stay to inquire ; I wish to have no
motives imputed to me ; I impute none to other men. I will
only say that I never aspired to such a position as leader of a
party ; it is alike foreign to my inclination and my habits. After
the noble Earl opposite became minister, I never engaged in
political discussions till the Eeform Bill was brought forward.
Thinking that the tendency of this measure was to destroy the
monarchy and the constitution, was it not my duty as a Judge
of the land, as a Privy Councillor, as a Member of your Lord-
ships' House, with all my power to oppose it ? If this measure
had originated with, and been supported by my earliest and most-
valued friends — by the very friends of my bosom — I would have
acted in the same way. So much for my conduct and the attacks
upon me. For the rest, the Eeformers are triumphant — the
barriers are broken down, the waters are out — who can predict
their course, or tell the devastation they will occasion?"*
With a very ample exercise of the suppressio veri, and a
little of tlie suggestio falsi, he made a favourable impression
on the House, and for a brief space he was rather considered
an ill-used man. He had calculated confidently (and as
it turned out successfully) on the ignorance of the assembly
he was addressing, while he denounced the ignorance of his
assailant in the House of Commons ; for, neither Lord Grey
nor the Chancellor, nor any other Peer, questioned tlie doc-
trine which he laid down ex cathedra, — that it is the duty of
the Judges, qua Judges, to volunteer advice to the Crown, if
they consider any proceeding of the King's ministers, in or
out of Parliament, unconstitutional or mischievous. I 23re-
sume he did not mean to include all County-Court Judges
and inferior Magistrates. But, supposing his doctrine to
extend only to the Judges of the superior courts, who take a
special oath of office, I must be allowed to doubt whether
Puisnes or Chiefs are guilty of any breach of duty, if disap-
proving of the policy of the Government, with respect to
parliamentary reform, or to peace or war, or any other
important question involving the safety of the State, they
omit to volunteer their advice to the Crown as Judges; and
if they were to demand an audience for this purpose, the
* 12 Hansard, 993.
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
application would be treated with just ridicule. The Judges
can only advise the Crown upon such a subject as the power
of the reigning sovereign to direct and control the education
and the marriages of members of the Eoyal Family ; and
this only when they are called upon to do so by the advice
of the Lord Chancellor.
Lyndhurst never again appeared in the House of Lords
during any of the subsequent proceedings on the Eeform
Bill. He acquiesced in the recommendation of the Duke of
Wellington that, " to avoid forcing the creation of Peers, all
opposition to the Bill should be withdrawn ;" and it passed
without modification or amendment. Such was the result
of the indiscreet attempt to "postpone the disfranchising
clauses ;" and the noble and learned author of it was pointed
to by the finger of scorn as " the engineer hoist with his own
j^etard." Although his party seemed irrevocably crushed, he
himself by no means lost hope, justly trusting to the reaction
which must inevitably follow such a popular movement, and
to the blunders likely to be committed by the Liberals, who
now foolishly believed themselves in possession of permanent
power. Instead of following the example of Lord Tenterden,
who vowed that he would never again enter the House of
Lords after the Eeform Bill passed,* Lyndhurst sagaciously
predicted that he should ere long be again j^residing on the
woolsack. I was appointed Solicitor General shortly after the
dissolution of Parliament which followed, and he blamed me
for giving up my circuit to accept this office, as he assured
me I could not jjossibly hold it more than a few weeks.
At first it looked as if the Tories as a party were annilii-
lated. When the new elections took place they could hardly
show themselves on the hustings, and Avhen the House of
Commons met, the small number returned hardly filled the
opposition bench. Sir Eobert Peel wisely reformed the party,
laying aside its ancient name, and calling his suj)porters to
rally round him under the designation of " Conservatives."
He declared that he acquiesced in the Eeform Bill now that
it was law, although he had opposed it in its progress, but
* This vow of Lord Tenterden was fulfilled; for he died before parlia-
ment again met.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 89
his policy slioiild be to check the further efforts of the Eadical CHAP,
party, who, not contented with what had been achieved, ^'
were desirous of completely subverting our institutions, a.d. 1832.
He determined that he would not factiously oppose any good
measure which the Government might introduce, but that if
goaded by their radical allies to propose any dangerous
innovation, he would try to rouse an anti-revolutionary spirit
in the nation. He therefore constantly attended in his place,
while the Speaker was in the chair, shouldered by Mr. O'Con-
nell and Mr. Henry Hunt, the most egregious of demagogues,
who often sat down on the opposition bench by his side. Dex-
terously availing himself of the extravagances and errors of
his antagonists, he ere long appeared to the discerning to be
on the road to victory.
Lyndhurst at this time did not at all act in concert with Lyndhm-st's
Peel, and was actuated by totally different feelings. His pSicy!*
object was to harass and discredit the Government by all
means, without considering whether they were fair or
factious, and without foresight as to their effect upon the
country, or upon the permanent success of his own party.
His fii'st effort in the new Parliament was a^fainst myself. His attack
— not from malice, I believe, but rather from a love of mis- "j^jtor Ge-
chievous fun. I had represented Stafford in two Parliaments, °^i"'''^-
and had complied with the well-known custom, which had pre-
vailed in the borough at least ever since Sheridan first repre-
sented it, of paying them "head money." This could not
properly be called hrihery, for the voter received the same
sum on which ever side he voted, but it might be treated as
bribery in a court of law. For the Parliament after my
appointment as Solicitor General I had been returned for the
newly enfranchised borough of Dudley, where the most abso-
lute purity prevailed. But there had been a petition against
the new return for Stafford, and a bill had been passed by
the House of Commons to indemnify all witnesses Avho should
be examined to prove that bribery had been committed at
the last or any former election for the borough. I had
nothing to do with any of these proceedings ; but when the
bill came up to the Lords, Lyndhurst represented that it was
a job of the Solicitor General, and that the bill had been so
90
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 18.33.
He opposes
the County
Court Bill.
framed as to indemnify him ■without his being examined as a
witness. In the debate on the second i-eading, he said : —
"It appeared that bribery to a great extent had existed at
Stafford, both on former occasions and at the late election. The
evidence showed that not only the electors but the candidates
were deeply implicated in these transactions, and he considered
it necessary that their Lordships should take some effectual
measure to check such flagrant corruption. But this was a Bill
to indemnify all persons examined as witnesses, all candidates,
and all others who had violated the law and been guilty of
bribery."
In the mean time a whisper was circulated through the
House that the Solicitor General was standing below the bar,
and all eyes were turned upon him. A noble Lord present
proposed to introduce a clause by which all who had been
candidates for Stafford should be exempted from the indem-
nity ; but Lyndhurst, satisfied with having had a laugh at an
old friend, afterwards suffered the bill to pass quickly through
the House. In truth it extended only to those who should
be examined under it as witnesses.*
Lyndhurst was in downright earnest the next time he came
forward, which was to oppose a Bill introduced by Lord
Brougham, for the establishment of the County Court juris-
diction, which, when at last carried, proved so beneficial.
He prudently abstained from objecting to the second reading^
but before allowing it to be considered in the committee, he
delivered a very long and elaborate speech against it, giving
a very favourable specimen of his powers of reasoning and
misrepresentation. He said : —
"He would freely admit that with the multitude this was a
popular measure. Well it miglit be so. It promised cheap — it
promised expeditious law. These were plausible topics — topics
well calculated to catch the breath of popular opinion. But it
should be borne in mind — and he trusted the country and their
Lordships would think well upon it — that cheap law did not
always mean cheap justice, nor expeditious law expeditious
justice. To what," he asked, " is to be ascribed the admir-
able administration of real justice in this country? To the
central system by which it is administered. Twelve or fifteen
* 17 Hansard, 1071.
A,D. IH.lo.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUllST. 91
judges, educated in the same mannoi*, sitting together at one CHAP.
time and in one place, consulting each other daily, and, if need
be, hourly, subject to the criticism of their compeers, subject
also to th6 examination of an acute and vigilant bar, kept con-
stantly alive to tlie justice of the decision of the judges by their
regard for the interests of the judges and their own credit,
— ensure for the suitors a cei-tainty, a precision, a purity, and
even a freedom from the suspicion of corruption, such as no
other country in the world could ever boast of"
He then went over the several enactments of the bill,
considerably perverting their meaning, and after representing
that it was only a device to snatch at popularity and to
extend the patronage of the Lord Chancellor, concluded by
disclaiming any personal feeling on this occasion, or any
party bias, and assuring their Lordships that lie was " re-
luctantly compelled to try to arrest a measure so mischievous
in discharge of the duty he owed to his country, to West-
minster Hall, and to himself."*
On the third reading there was a fair trial of the strengtli
of political parties, and tlie whippers-in on both sides exerted
themselves to the utmost in the muster of peers and proxies
from remote parts of Europe. Lyndhurst again made a very
clever speech, and, I really believe, even inlluenced some
votes — particularly by his argument, that the bill was "an
enormous job." fcJaid he, with an ostentatious sneer : —
" I am well aware that personally my noble and learned friend
on the woolsack has no wish for this unlimited power ; my noble
and learned friend does not desire this vast patronage, and while
exercised by him it would bo safe; but the Great Seal may bo
transferred to another who may bo ambitions and desiious of
gratifying pufliug and sj^cophantish dependents. My noble and
learned friend has candidly told us that ho had looked about
to see where this formidable patronage could bo lodged with less
peril, and that, not being successful in his search elsewhcic, ho
had been compelled as a dernier rcssort to retain it for himself.
I am ready and willing to give my noble and learned friend
credit for the most patriotic views and the most disinterested
intentions ; but we must not legislate for individuals ; wo must
contemplate the possibility of a Lord Chancellor, with the
commanding eloquence and transcendent abilities of my noble
* IS Hansard, 8G8.
92 KEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, and learned friend, yet not possessed of liis moderation and dis-
^" interestedness,— on the contrary, anxious to devote the whole of
~~7 his energies to the purposes of personal aggrandizement, and
indisposed to those institutions which may appear to him calcu-
lated to check him in his career. Such a person, conscious of
the fleeting nature of popular applause, might wish to establish
his power on some more substantial foundation, and might find it
convenient to surround himself with a band of gladiators arrayed
as judges, ready to obey his commands and to deal destruction
among his adversaries." *
Upon a division, the Peers present were equally divided,
but, proxies being called, the bill was rejected by a majority
of five,t and the measure was delayed above twelve years.
His inac- In 1834 Lyndliurst took very little part in Parliamentary
1834."' proceedings. Various bills for the reform of the Common
Law had been prepared, but they could not be introduced
by reason of my no longer being a member of the House of
Commons. At the beginning of the Session, I vacated my
seat on my promotion to the office of Attorney General, and,
losing my election for Dudley, on account of the growing
unpopularity of the Government, I was not returned for
Edinburgh till within a few weeks of the prorogation. Pepys,
although afterwards Chancellor, was then of so little mark
or likelihood that nothing was intrusted to him. The bill
which chiefly occupied the two Houses was that for the
Amendment of the Poor Law ; and this Lyndhurst could not
very well oppose, as it was warmly supported by the Duke
of Wellington. But active assaults on the Whig Ministers
were less necessary, as they seemed doomed to destruction
by internal discord. The Kadicals not giving the Keform
Bill a fair trial, and still unreasonably urging on farther con-
cessions, the Cabinet was divided as to how far these demands
should be complied with, and four of the then most Con-
servative members seceded. An arrangement followed which
rather made the Government more popular — but this had
scarcely been completed when a foolish dispute arose about
* It is a curious fact, that at this time Brougham had contrived to have all
the journalists in London writing in his praise ; some from real admiration-
some from favours actually conferred, but more from expectations lavishly
excited. t 19 Hansard, 372.
LIFE OF LOKD LYNDHURST. 93
some Irisli job, which induced Lord Grey to " descend from CHAP.
power." Lyndhurst thought the Great Seal already his, — '
when, to the astonishment of all mankind, it was announced a.d. 1834.
that the Whigs were to go on under Lord Melbourne as
Premier. Many were astonished at Lyndhurst's inactivity
for the remainder of the session. Brougham, still Chan-
cellor, — boasting that he might have been First Lord of the
Treasury himself, and that he put in Lamb as his subordinate,
— played most fantastic tricks, which made his colleagues
weep. These might have been turned to excellent account
for the public amusement, — but Lyndhurst, who continued
Chief Baron, was obliged to be out of town upon the circuit.
He comforted himself by thinking that the best policy for
the time probably was to abstain from the danger of resusci-
tating the popularity of the Whigs by any Tory assault upon
them.
Had the Whig Ministers been allowed again to meet indiscreet
Parliament, Brougham holding the Great Seal, they must Lord Mei-
have been reoularly and permanently turned out in a few ll''^™^ ^J^^
weeks by a vote of want of confidence. But William lY.,
by an act of folly which was deplored by those whom he
wished to serve, prolonged Whig rule for six years, with the
interval of "the hundred days"* during which Lyndhurst Nov. 1834.
was tantalized by holding the Great Seal in his slippery
grasp.
No one heard the news of the dismissal of the Whigs with
more astonishment than the Lord Chief Baron. It was then
term time, and he was sitting in the Court of Exchequer,
when a note was brought to him from the Duke of Wellington
announcing that his Grace had been summoned to attend the
King at Brighton with a view to the formation of a new
administration, and requesting the Chief Baron to call upon
him at night when he expected to be again back in London.
The manner of the noble and learned Judge, on this occasion,
betrayed some excitement ; but, without any communication to
his brethren on the bench, he soon seemed to resume the
* Sir Eobert Peel's administration of 1835 was called " The hundred days,"
in reference to the designation given to Napoleon's reign after his return from
Elba, which lasted exactly so long.
94 KKION OK W 11,1. 1 AM IV.
CirAT*. coiiHidoniiioii ol' tlio case niidfT disouHHion, iitid Ik; oontinnnd
' to att(!iid to tli(! iU'^iiTn(!iits of conriHol for tlio rest of tho day
A.D. 1834. as if Dotliiii^ oxtraordiriary liad occiirnid. Ilo wan iti a Htatf;
of f^njat anxioty from i\\<\ timo of IiIh l(!fi,viti^ tluj (Joiirt
till tlio momcMt arrived for Icnowiiig liis fate at Apshsy House.
Tlui l)id<(! iit on(!0 told liirri tliat Sir Kolxii-t Peel, who was
then at itoirio, was to bo Priine JVliniHt(!r ; but there could Ixi
no doubt tliat ho would concur in recoriun(!nding that Lord
Tjyndhurst Hhordd iifj^ain }«! (!li!i,n('ellor, iuid that tlu! K'irig
wished the transfc'r of this, and idl tin; otluir offices of the
Government, to take place as speedily Jis poasiblr!. It was
then a^^reed between them that, to f^rutify His Majesty's im-
j)ati(jnco to be rid of his lleform Ministcvrs, a H(jrt of interim
(jiovcrnment shouhl be arrang<;d till Sir Kobert Peel's return
home ; that the seals of all tho Secretaries of State should
be demanded from thcni, and lujld by tho J)u1<(' of Wcllinf^-
ton ; but that tlio (ireat Seal, as was usual, should bo allowed
to remain in tlu; hands of the present Chancellor for a short
timo to allow him to give judgment in cases which had been
argued bc.'fore him.
Jjord Jh-oiigham liaving, in a manner rather unusual and
uncourtcous, returned the Great Seal to th(! King on the;
22iid of November, it was the same day delivertsd to Jiord
Lyndhurst; but he continued to 2)rcsidc as Chief Paron till
the end of IMichaelmas Term.
LIFE OF LOUIJ LV.NIjIIUItST. 95
C 11 APT Eli VI.
LORD CHANCELLOTl DUPJXO TIIi: 100 UATS, AND EX-CHAN-
CELLOU DUI'JNO THE ADMINISTliATION OF LOKD MEL-
liOUIlNE.
NovEMBEE 1834 — Seitembeu 1841.
When Lord Lyndhnrst appeared as Chancellor at the sit- CIIAP.
tings after term, there mm a divided feeling among those '
whose personal interests were not touched by political changes. j,„ ^^o/^^
Tlie eccentricities of his predecessor weighed in his favour LynrihurHt
as well as his own clear intellect and agreeable manners; Jf^jj^*'*"'
but a recollection (>[' his dislike of business and recklessness
as to the fate of the suitors, caused some even to long for
the conscientious cunciaiirirj and doubting Eldon.
Sir Itobert Peel, on returning from Italy, although he
acquiesced in Lyndhurst's appointment as Chancellor, reposed
little confidence in him, and without consulting him wrote
the "Tarn worth Manifesto," laying down the liberal principles
on which the new Government was to be conducted. As he
chose to dissolve Parliament, I was obliged to go down to
Edinburgh, and to stand afonnidable contest against the now
Marquis of Dalhousie and Governor General of Indiij, then
Lord Ptamsay, the Peelite candidate. When I was going to
the Court of King's Bench the moniing after my return to
London, I encountered the Lord Chancellor stepping out of
his coach at WestminBtor. He took me into his private
room, and said, "Well ! private friendship is more powerful
than party feeling. I can hardly be sorry that you have
won, and, behold ! as a pledge of peace (so far as it can be
permitted between an ex-Attoniey General and the Lord
Chancellor he wishes to turn out) take that splendid nosegay
and carry it into the King's P>ench, telling them that I gave
it you." With proper acknowledgments, and a reciprocation
96
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. I80I.
Feb. 1835.
Meeting of
a new Par-
liament.
Logomachy
between
LjTidhurst
and
Brougham.
of good-will equally sincere, I took the nosegay which had
been prepared for the Lord Chancellor after ancient custom,
in the fashion of that used by Lord Keeper Guildford in the
reign of Charles IL, to conceal his dying lineaments from the
gazing crowd. Entering the Court of King's Bench in my
robes, I exhibited the nosegay in testimony of my Edinburgh
triumph and of the magnanimity of the Lord Chancellor.
Upon the meeting of the new Parliament, the Lord Chan-
cellor had a very distasteful task to perform, which was to
express the King's approbation of the Speaker elected by the
Commons contrary to the wishes of his Ministers — a bitter
foretaste of what was to follow. Nevertheless, said his Lord-
ship, with a serene countenance : — " Mr. Abercromby, his
Majesty is fully satisfied of your zeal for the public service,
and his Majesty therefore does most readily and fully ap-
prove of the choice of his faithful Commons, and confirms you
as their Speaker." *
The King's Speech was most conciliatory to the Liberal
party, recommending the reform of the ecclesiastical courts,
a marriage bill for the relief of Dissenters, the reform of
municipal corporations, and almost all the other measures
which the late Government had promised. But this attempt
seemed only to inflame partj^ animosity, and the debate upon
the address was carried on with extreme rancour. The late
Chancellor and his successor, although afterwards on terms of
the closest intimacy and cordial co-operation, assailed each
other in language which, had they not presided on the wool-
sack — supposed to constitute a status of non-combatancy or
pugnacious incapacity — would have rendered a hostile meeting
on Wimbledon Common next morning indispensable. Lord
Brougham began the affray by denouncing as unconstitu-
tional the dismissal of the late Ministers while they fully
enjoyed the confidence of the House of Commons. He
contended that the present Ministers, by accepting office, were
answerable for it, whether they had previously advised it or
not ; and he particularly taunted the Chancellor with his sudden
apparent conversion (manifested by the King's Speech) to
liberal measures, which he had been in the habit of violently
* 26 Hausard, G2.
. LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. t>7
opposing. He at the same time insinuated tliat this conver- CHAP,
siou could not be sincere, and referred in a very uallino-
manner to his miraculous change of opinion on the question a.d. i835.
of Catholic emancipation.
Lord Lyndhurst rose in a real passion, and after complain-
ing that the noble and learned Lord had maligned him, thus
continued : —
" The noble and learned Lord has dared to say that I pursued
the course I took for the purpose of retaining my possession of
office. I deny peremptorily the statement of the noble and
learned Lord. I say, if I may make use of the expression, he has
uttered an untruth in so expressing himself. So far from that
measure being brought forward and supported by us with a view
to preserve our places, it must be well known that we hazarded
our places by pursuing that course. What right, then, has the
noble and learned Lord in his fluent, and, I may say, flip'pant
manner, to attack me as he has dared to do?"
He then referred to what Lord Brougham had said about
the Duke of Wellington's explanation of the manner in which
the change of (government had been brought about : —
" The view given of that statement was a misrepresentation by
the noble and learned Lord. His quickness and his sagacit}^
must have caused him to understand the noble Duke, and I can
ascribe what he affirmed only to an intention to misrepresent." —
(Cries of Order ! order .')
Lord Broucjham. — "I will just use the same language to the
noble and learned Lord that he uses to me, if he chooses to make
this an arena of indecency."
Lord Lyndhurst. — " Perhaps I had no right, in strictness, to say
that the noble and learned Lord intended to pervert, but I have
stated my reasons for the conclusion to which I have come ;
those reasons are satisfactory to my own mind, and the noble and
learned Lord has not denied the correctness of my statement."
Lord Brougham. — " Every word of it is incorrect."
Lord Lyndhurst then vindicated the manner in which the
late ministers had been dismissed : —
" I should have acted exactly as his Majesty has acted. I con-
sider myself, as one of the ministers, responsible for what has
been done, and I should have been ashamed of myself if 1 had
been called upon to advise bis Jlajesty and I had not advised
him to dismiss the late ministers."
VOL. VIII. H
A.D. 183;
98 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. Lord Brougham. — " The present is the first occasion on which
I ever heard any one — beyond the merest wrangling clown — use
language so confounding the diiference between erroneous
opinion and misstated fact. I deny positively having accused
the noble and learned Lord on the woolsack of having sacrificed
his principles to retain office."
Lord Lyndhurst. — " Understanding that the noble and learned
Lord has withdrawn his offensive imputation, I feel bound to
apologise for the warmth I have evinced."
Lord Brougham. — " I retract nothing."
It seems to me that Lyndhurst is to be blamed severely
for his share in this squabble. The charge of having sud-
denly supported Catholic emancipation that he might keep
his office was not an affirmation of a fact upon A\hich the lie
could properly be given ; and, secondly, he gave no answer to
the charge actually made against him, when he said that the
Duke of Wellington and Sir Eobert Peel brought forward
the measure of Catholic emancipation from good motives, as
they were not inculpated, and although they might have acted
patriotically, he might have acted from motives the most
opposite.*
During the fierce struggle which ensued in the House of
Commons to determine the fate of the new Government,
almost uninterrupted tranquillity prevailed in the House of
I^ords. There the Opposition, having no strength, originated
nothing ; and Peel tliought that there would be no use in
carrying bills through one chamber of the legislature unless
he could command a majority in the other. Meanwhile
Lyndhurst and Brougham continued at mortal enmity, even
renouncing, when referring to each other in debate, the
nominal friendship which generally is preserved in the fiercest
conflicts of hostile lawyers. As Lyndlmrst declared the com-
mission issued by the late Government to inquire into the
abuses of municipal corporations to be illegal. Brougham
moved that a copy of it should be laid before the House, say-
ing that "the innocent public imagined that something was
to be done under it for the reform of corporations, but they
learned from the statement of the noble and learned Lord on
* 26 Hansard, 63-151.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUKST. 99
the woolsack tliat it was to be the foundation of an impeach- CHAP.
ment." Lyndhurst now denied that he had pronounced the '
whole of the commission to be illegal, and intimated that a.d. 1835.
when the Eeport of the Commissioners was presented, it might
be acted upon by the present Government.
Lord Brougham. — " My Lords, I aui lost iu astonishment at
what has now occurred. In the memory of man never was there
such a scene as we have now witnessed, taken in connexion with
what passed the other night, when I was charged with having put
the Great Seal to an illegal commission. And now this illeo"al
commission is to be adopted by his Majesty's present ministers,
and it is to prop up their popularity."
" The noble and learned Lord who had lately held the Great
Seal " proceeded bitterly to reproach " the noble and learned
Lord on the woolsack " with his inconsistencies. Lyndhurst at-
tempted to vindicate himself; but, for once, lost his presence of
mind or effrontery, — stammered, was confused, and evidently
quailed under the chastisement which Brougham inflicted
upon him. Lord ^Yharnclifife, trying to rescue him, repre-
sented this as an attack upon the new cabinet, as a body, and
said that they had all been described as " apostates and sham
reformers."
Lord Brougham. — " I have never called any one an apostate.
It is a hard word to use, and I have not used it, although, cer-
tainly, I might have called noble Lords opposite ' sham reformers,'
' half-and-half reformers,' or ' milk-and-water reformers.' But if
they intend to yield to the wishes of the people, they will not
deserve those titles ; and I hope that the noble and learned Lord
on the woolsack may feel it for his interest to persevere in
the intentions he has expressed, with a view to municipal
reform." *
Who would then have supposed that the two noble and
learned enemies would, before the lapse of many months, not
only be cordially reconciled, but zealously united in opposing
a Whig Government ?
Peel, considering the division in the House of Commons on f:;th Apiii.
the Irish Church question tantamount to a vote onward of confi- Sir it. Peel
resipns.
26 Hansard, 304.
H 2
100
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
VI.
A.u. 1835.
Lyndhurst
aoiaiii Ex-
Chancellor.
Lord Lynd-
hurst's bill
al)out inces-
tuous mar-
riases.
dence, and having resigned, it was thought as a matter of course
that Lyndhurst and Brougham would exchange positions, tlie
latter being restored to the woolsack on the morrow ; but a
prophetic voice had uttered the fatal words, " never shall
sun that morrow see."
Lyndhurst declared . that Brougham M'as ill-used by his
exclusion from office, and I fully agreed in this sentiment.
For the present the seals were put into commission, and I
was restored to my old office of Attorney General. I was
the first to be installed in office, that I might sign the
patents of my colleagues, and I was sworn in before Lord
Chancellor Lyndhurst at his house in George Street, Hanover-
square. He received me in a green silk dressing-gown, and
when the ceremony was over, we took a jocular retrospect
and prospect of political affairs. He at first said, " You must
not expect ever to be Chancellor, for Brougham, as he can-
not be the man, is resolved to destroy the office, and I am
the last of the race." He afterwards added, "If there is
still to be a Great Seal, I strongly advise you to staiid out
for it ; Brougham, being civiUter mortuus, it is yours by
right."
Lyndhurst thus began a course of policy which he long
earnestly pursued — to stir up strife between Brougham. and
me — being prepared to tell Brougham, as soon as they were
on speaking terms again, that " Campbell was intriguing
against him, and was his destined successor."
By this fleeting tenure of the Chancellorship, Lyndhurst
had lost his office of Chief Baron of the Exchequer ; but he
was not dissatisfied with his present position, compared with
that which he had before occupied ; for as ex-Chancellor he
now had the increased retired allowance of £5000 a-year,
without the expense and bore of going circuits, and he had
nothing to think of, day or night, except the best means of
annoying the Government.
lie began his new career by introducing a very important
bill, — which was not a party measure. The Duke of
Beaufort having no male issue by his first wife, upon her
death married her half sister, by whom he had a son,
who bore the second title of the family, "Marquis of
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 101
Worcester." By the existing law this marriasre was voidable, CHAP,
though not void ; and, if set aside in the life-time of the
parents, their children would have been considered illegiti- a.d. 1835.
mate. The Duke's younger brother, Lord Granville Somerset,
was married, and had a son, who in that case would have
been entitled to succeed to the Dukedom. Lyndhurst, an
intimate friend of the Duke and Duchess, being informed bv
them of the apprehensions they entertained, although the
younger branch of the family had taken no steps to annul
their marriage, boldly undertook to alter the law retrospec-
tively in their favour. In an admirable speech, he pointed
out the inconvenience and injustice arising from voidable
marriages, and, as a remed}^, proposed that no marriage hitherto
contracted should be set aside on the ground of affinity, no
proceeding for that purpose having been commenced before
the passing of the Act, and that hereafter all marriages
within the forbidden degrees either of affinity or consanguinity
should be null and void ab initio. The bill was ri^ht in
principle. I myself supported it when it came down to the
House of Commons, and I cannot regret that it passed,
although it was used afterwards to spread a false belief that
till Lord Lyndhurst's Act a marriage between a man and the
sister of his deceased wife was perfectly legal : whereas it
always was, and I hope ever will be, deemed incestuous ; and
the only defect to be remedied was the imperfect procedm-e
for declaring its illegality. The general law being improved,
we may give Lyndhurst credit for what he did in this affair,
without inquiring into his motives. But in the next matter,
in which he took an active part, no defence can be made
for him.
There is nothing on which the prosperity and happiness of Lvndhuist's
a country depend more than on a good system of municipal!- opposition
ties. Self-government is the true principle on which human nicipai Re-
affairs ought to be conducted ; and every city, every town, ^°''"^ ^'"*
and almost every village, may, for the management of its
local affairs, be a separate republic, under the control of a
superintending power, which ought not to interfere with its
free will, but to see that it keeps within its just jurisdiction,
and conforms to the general law of the land. In early times
102 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, when municipal corporations in England arose by royal grant,
' they tolerably well answered the purpose of their creation,
A.D. 1835. the defined area to which the charter applied comprehending
the whole of the existing town, and provision being made
for the e-ood manao-ement of the local affairsof the community
by functionaries in the election of whom all the inhabitant
liouseholders had a voice. But, in the course of centuries,
towns spread far beyond their original limits, having a large
urban population not within the municipal jurisdiction ; bye-
laws were passed, to which the courts of law very improperly
gave effect, limiting the right of electing mayors, aldermen,
and common-councilmen to a select body ; the distinction
was established between inhabitants and freemen, whereby
respectable traders, domiciled in the borough, might be de-
prived of all municipal rights, while strangers, residing in a
distant part of the kingdom, had a right to vote at all elec-
tions, if descended from freemen of the borough ; there was
no control over the expenditure of the funds of the borough
arising from lands or tolls, and a system prevailed among
almost all the boroughs of the kingdom of the most profligate
waste, jobbing, corruption, oppression, and misrule. Again,
towns liad sprung up, more populous than London in the
times of the Plantagenets, which were left without incorpora-
tion or municipal institutions of any kind, and in which paving,
cleansing, lighting, supplying with water, tvatching, and pre-
serving the peace were either entirely neglected, or left to con-
flicting and absurd Acts of Parliament. To investigate and
suggest a remedy for these multiplied mischiefs, commis-
sioners had been appointed under Lord Grey's Government.
They had prepared a very able Report upon which a bill was
about to be drawn at the time of the sudden dismissal of the
Whigs by William IV. in November, 1834. No one was
more sensible of the crying necessity for municipal reform
than Sir Eobert Peel, or more sincerely desirous to see it
accomplished. Accordingly he introduced a paragraph into
the King's speech, referring to the report of the commis-
sioners ; and there can be no doubt that if he had continued
in oifice, a bill very much the same with that which we pro-
posed would have been introduced by him, and would have
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 103
heen supj^ortecl with warm zeal as well as signal ability by CHAP,
his Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst.
Lord Melbourne being again at the head of the Govern- a.d. 1835.
ment, notice was given in the House of Commons that
municipal reform was to be his first measure, and the bill
for this purpose was framed under my superintendence.
With a view to correct proved abuses, and to introduce a
uniform, simple and efficient plan for the government of
municipalities throughout the kingdom, it certainly dealt
very freely with existing charters and usages ; but I can
conscientiously and solemnly say that it was framed without
any party bias, — purely with a view to the public good. It
passed through the House of Commons by large majorities.
Peel very fairly criticising some of its details, but giving it
his general support.
When it reached the House of Lords, Lyndhurst vowed its
destruction. Having a large majority at his beck, the
systematic policy he adopted was to throw out or damage
every G-overnment Bill, whatever might be its object or
merits, as far as he could do so without exciting a loud
burst of public reprobation against him, and at the end of
the session to reproach the ministers for not being able to
carry their measures, and for retaining office without power.
The Municipal Keform Bill was particularly obnoxious to
him, for, if carried, it would confer considerable credit upon
the Wings, and consolidate the existing coalition between
them and the Eadicals, who were much pleased with it,
although they said it was in some of its enactments too
aristocratic. Lyndhurst, by holcUng up his finger as a
signal to the Lords, might have had it utterly rejected on
the second reading ; but he foresaw that this would have
been quite as serious an affair in its consequences as the
rejection of the Parliamentary Reform Bill, and he resorted
to another mode of defeating it, by allowing it to be read a
second time, and moving that counsel sliould be heard, and
witnesses examined against it, on going into committee.
These proceedings, he calculated, might be interminably
prolonged, so as to take away all chance of the bill passing,
— at least during the then pending Session of Parliament.
104 EEIGN OP WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. In support of tins course he argued that, —
" As charges of abuse formed the chief foundation for the
A.D, 1835. jxieasure, the petitioners against it had a right to be heard,
His speech and to prove that those charges were unfounded. The only
to support objection to this course was the length of time which it might
defeating occupy. But Can that delay be called long which justice re-
the bill. quires ? By this sweeping measure 240 corporations were to
be swept away, — and, as nobody could deny that, if it had been
directed against one accused corporation, a full hearing must have
been given, would the House precipitately proceed to condemna-
tion because delinquency was charged against many ? Were it
for a party object that the reform of corporations was to be
effected before a dissolution of Parliament, he and their Lord-
ships would understand how delay might be dangerous; but,
investigation must be courted, instead of being resisted, where
disclosure was not dreaded. The measure was Whig, — ^Whig in
its i^rinciple, — 'Whig in its character, and Whig in its object."
He then went over the names of the twenty Commissioners,
and asserted that, with the exception of Sir Francis Palgrave —
a Tory, who had recommended himself by publishing some-
thing against corporations — each of them was either " a
Whig," or " a Whig and something more." He again
ventured to question the validity of the Commission, saying
that —
" The noble and learned Lord, who had issued and defended
it, administered justice admirably in that House ; but that no
reliance could be placed upon his judgment respecting a question
of law which assumed a political shape. It was impossible that
their Lordships could proceed on this Eeport, sent out to the
public by a packed Commission, such as he had described. They
were asked, on this evidence, to rob men of their franchise, and
of their property, without a hearing, and without the form of a
trial. He would remind their Lordships that these corporations
were copies— imperfect copies, he allowed — of the three estates
of the realm, and yet they were to be annihilated, for what pur-
pose he could not tell, unless the new corporations were to serve
as models for a change of constitution in their Lordships' House,
abolishing the invidious distinction between peer and commoner.
There would be no defence for the Church, — no defence for their
own privileges, if they surrendered the corporations to con-
demnation unheard. Pause, my Lords ; consider. At all events,
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 105
observe tlie forms of justice. I know the civiuni ardor prava CHAP.
jubentium will not operate here."
Lord Lausdowne, after expressing astonishment that this a.v. 1835.
bill should be now described as detestable in its object, and
unconstitutional in its enactments, although it had passed
tlirouoh all its stao:es in the other House, and had been read
a second time in this H(3use without a word being said
against its principle, proceeded to defend the Commissioners
who had been so vehemently assailed, and to allude to the
noble and learned Lord's supposed early liberal tendencies : —
" I can assure the noble and learned Lord, that with the
politics of the Commissioners I am myself imacqiiainted ; they
may be what the noble and learned Lord described them ; but,
supposing that the noble and learned Lord is quite right in that
respect, I do not know that the circumstance of a man being or
having been ' a Whig and something more than a Whig,' dis-
qualifies him for the exercise of any sort of judicial functions.
I am afraid that if the circumstance of an individual having
been ' a Whig and something more,' were to be a disqualification,
it would reach to much higher and more eminent characters than
those who have been the siibject of the noble and learned Lord's
insinuations. I must, in justice to individuals, both in this
House and out of it, express my humble opinion that neither
Whiggism nor ultra- Whiggism necessarily infers infamy."
Lord Lijndhurst.—'''' I beg to say, in explanation, that I made
no charge against the Commissioners ; my charge was against
those who appointed them. Further, I feel that the noble
Marquis in what he has said of those who were WTiigs and some-
thing more than Whigs, has conveyed an insinuation against me.
I never belonged to any political party till I came into parlia-
ment. I never belonged to any political society. I have been
in parliament sixteen years, and I wish the noble Marquis to
point out any speech or act of mine which can justify my being
described as a WJiig, or something more than a Whig."
This must be confessed to be a very lame defence of his
political consistency, ignoring all that he had said or done
before he entered Parliament at an age nearly equal to that
of William Pitt, when that statesman closed his illustrious
career. However, the motion against the Government was
carried by a majority of seventy.*
* 29 nanstu-tl, 1370-1425.
105' REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. The speeches of counsel and the evidence against the bill
'__ having lasted many days, the Tory Peers themselves became
A.D. 1835. so tired and nauseated, that Lyndhurst could not persuade
them to attend longer, and they seemed ready to give up
Church and State to Whigs, or the devil himself, rather
than submit longer to such infliction. Besides, there was
a terrible cry raised out of doors against this outrageous
attempt to strangle a popular measure. The evidence was
therefore closed, and the bill was allowed to go into com-
mittee.
He mnti- Here Lvndhurst, according to his preconceived purpose,
lates the bill .. , I it ii -i • 11'
ill com- mutilated it; and by adding as well as striking out clauses,
mittee. reduced it to such a deplorable state, that in practice it
could not be u'orJced. The only hope of its friends was that,
by sending it back to the House of Commons, there might be
such an expression of opinion there as might induce the
Lords not to insist upon their amendments.
After carrying the amendment, by which aldermen were
to hold their office for life, Lyndhurst came down to me,
while I was sitting at the bar in Black Rod's box, and said,
with the grin upon his countenance wliich makes him so
like Mephistophiles, " Well, I suppose you think we are
mad?" I only shook my head. "What! not a smile?"
I said, " It now becomes too serious ;" and he walked off.
When the Eeport of the Committee was discussed in the
House of Lords, Lord Denman, as head of the Common Law,
considered it his duty to defend the Commissioners, who
were all barristers, from the aspersions cast upon them : —
Lord Den- " They have been described as entertaining extreme opinions
man charges ^^ political subjects. Such an imputation is more applicable to
with incon- the noble and learned person by whom it has been made. For
.sistency, that noble Lord I have a great respect. I am indebted to him
personally for a long succession of kindnesses ; but if it be a
calumny to declare that he has changed his opinions, I am
bound to say that I make this statement with the most perfect
good faith, and I believe that such is the conviction of all who
have known the noble and learned Lord. I must say it is rather
hard that members of the bar should be thus attacked, in a
quarter where they have a right to expect protection and favour.
The Commissioners are men of learning ; they are men of
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUEST. 107
science ; they are men of consistent opinions ; they are men CHAP,
of honourable principles, who have undertaken an important duty ^^
with the purpose of performing it honestly to their king and to ~
their country. In spite of the insinuations of the noble and
learned Lord, I do, in my conscience, believe that they have so
performed it."
Lord Lijndhurst. — ■'■'■ \Yhen my noble and learned friend the Chief Lyndhmst's
Justice throws his arrows in the dark, I know not how to combat ^'^'^^n^^f °'
-,,-1 p . , hiraselr.
mm. W hen a fact is stated, I know how to deny it ; when a
particular opinion is imputed to me, I know how to repel
the imputation. I have been on terms of intimacy with my
noble and learned friend for a long period; I went the same
circuit with him ; I have been engaged in conversation with him
at different times ; and if he speaks of a period of twenty years
past, I can only say I am unable to call to my recollection all
the opinions I may have tben entertained, or all the words I may
have then uttered ; but I am sure that I never belonged to any
imrty or political society ivhafever. I was attached to no party,
neither to the Whigs nor to the Tories, nor (as my noble and
learned friend would insinuate) to the Eadicals."
Lord Denman. — " The supposed calumny, which, has been so
often repeated, I stated, believing it to be true ; and I should
now believe it to be true were it not for the assertion of my
noble and learned friend. And really I feel somewhat astonished
that when we are considering what really were the opinions of
my noble and learned friend on political questions of the greatest
importance and interest, which, divided his contemporaries into
keenly conflicting parties, he should plead forgetfulness as to the
opinions which he entertained on these questions — twenty years
ago undoubtedly — but when he had reached mature years. If
those opinions are forgotten by himself, they are not forgotten,
and cannot be forgotten, by others. They were not uttered
merely in the presence of those who were on terms of close
intimacy with him, or in the course of private conversation, but
they were openly avowed rather as if my noble and learned
friend felt a pride in entertaining and avowing them." *
When the bill came back to the Commons " amended," or
mutilated by the Lords, Lord John Russell, to save the
dignity of their Lordships, yielded to some of their altera-
tions of smaller imj)ortance, protesting that he did not agree
with them, but strenuously resisted those which would have
* 30 Hansard. 1042.
108
EEIGN OF "WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
VI.
A,D. 1835.
Peel takes
part against
Lyndhurst
on the Mu-
nicipal Cor-
porations
Bill.
Lyndhurst
vindicates
his conduct.
completely obstructed its operation ; and Sir Eobert Peel,
to his immortal honour, throwing his Chancellor overboard,
took part with the Government. But what was to become
of the bill when the Commons in conference informed the
Lords that the Commons disagreed with these amendments ?
Lyndhurst was alarmed lest there should be a public
disturbance if the bill were lost, and began to consider that if
he came to a downright quarrel with Peel, his chance of
resuming the Great Seal, when the country should get tired
of the Whigs, was gone. He therefore advised the Lords
not to insist on the amendments to which the Commons
dissented. Thus he concluded a very shuffling speech : —
" Your Lordships must be aware how much I have been
assailed during these discussions, both in and out of Parliament,
on account of the coiirse which I have felt it my duty to pursue
with regard to this Bill. Allow me to say, that I should not be
ashamed to have been a volunteer in my attacks upon it ; but the
fact is, that I have been no volunteer. Many noble Lords with
whom I have been in the habit of acting for years, and who
thought that from my professional habits I was calculated to lead
their efforts, requested me to take the management of the opposition
to it. I yielded to their solicitations ; and, having done so, I
have endeavoured to discharge my duty to them, and to my
country, firmly, strenuously, and to the best of my abilit}^. I
have been charged with having some party views to accomplish,
some indirect ambition to gratify by this opposition. I deny it
once and for ever ; all my ambition has long been satisfied.
I have twice, to borrow a phrase from these municipal pro-
ceedings, passed that chair [pointing to the woolsack], under two
successive sovereigns. I have had, to borrow a phrase from a
successful revolutionary usurper, that splendid bauble [pointing
to the mace* which lay on the woolsack] carried before me.
Whatever ambitious views I may have had in early life have
all been fulfilled." t
Notwithstanding these asseverations of satiated ambition,
the Great Seal was an object as near his heart as when he
first made his famous speech against Catholic emancipation,
and his famous speech for Catholic emancipation. Power and
* The Great Seal, being then in commission, was in the custody of Sir
Charles Pepys, Master of the Rolls, the first Commissioner ; and Lord Denmau
t 30 Hansard, 1351.
officiated as Speaker.
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 109
patronage were sweeter to him ""from having tasted them, CHAP,
and the emoluments of office were more than ever necessary '
to him, on account of the exj^ensive establishment he had to a.d. is35.
support. But his head had been turned by the unlimited
sway which he had established in the Upper House ; and he
appears actually to have had thoughts of turning off Peel,
and setting up for himself as leader of the Tory party.
When the Municipal Eeform Bill was in the Committee, I
took him aside and reproached him Avith striking out clauses
which Peel had approved of, and supported in the Commons.
His only answer was, " Peel ! what is Peel to me ? D n
Peel ! ! ! " This, however, might be only badinage, intimating
that he would not be slavishly led by Peel, although he
might still consider him head of the party.
The bill received the Royal Assent, and Parliament was Sept. lo.
prorogued on the 10th of September.
Before the session closed Brougham and Lyndhurst were Lyndiuust
so far reconciled that they spoke to each other in private on 'STJ^T
ham
a familiar footing, and Lyndhurst embraced the opportunity ^^''^ii ^ le
f.,... T->i -I ^ .-r-. presentation
01 trymg to incense Brougham more keenly agamst Lord that Camp-
Melbourne and his former colleaeues for excludinsf him }'^^^J'"''^ 'o
. ^ o be Chan-
irom onice, and agamst me, upon the alleged ground that celior.
I was plotting to obtain possession of the Great Seal.
I remember once, after arguing a case at the bar of the
House of Lords, coming upon the steps of the throne in
my silk gown and full-bottom wig (such as the Chancellor
wears), wishing to have an opportunity of speaking to Lord
Melbourne. I then heard Lord Lyndhurst halloo out to
Lord Brougham, so as almost to be heard distinctly in the
gallery, "Brougham, here is Campbell come to take his
seat as Chancellor upon the woolsack." The Duke of Cum-
berland (afterwards King of Hanover) was standing close by,
and Lyndhurst said to him, in Brougham's hearing, "Sir,
this is Sir John Campbell, now Attorney General, who is
very soon to be our Chancellor." As yet Brougham had
been hushed into a sort of feverish lepose by the tale that
his reappointment to his former office was deferred on account
of some personal pique of the King, which they hoped ere
long to overcome.
110 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
^^'^^- A calm prevailed till the beginning of another year ; but
before parliament again met it was indispensably necessary
A.D. 1836. that a new arrangement should be made with respect to the
Great Seal, and that some one should be fixed upon for
Chancellor, as the business of the Court of Chancery had
been disposed of in a very unsatisfactory manner by the
Lords Commissioners, and the judicial business in the House
of Lords had, during the preceding session, been almost
entirely neglected between the two ex-Chancellors, Lynd-
hurst and Brougham. The newspaper press was loud in its
complaints, and Sir Edward Sugden (afterwards Lord St.
Leonards) had published a pamphlet, to show the necessity
for a change.
Lord Melbourne now announced to me that Brougham
could not be reappointed, saying, with deep emphasis — " It is
impossible to act with him ; " and stated the plan proposed
to be, that Pepys should be Chancellor, and that Bickersteth
should succeed him as Master of the Eolls, with a peerage.
He tried to smooth me by a declaration, that he and all his
colleagues set so high a value on my services in the House of
Commons, that they could not spare me from that field in
which the real battle was to be fought. In truth, the battle
most dreaded was in the House of Lords ; for it was well
foreseen, that Brougham's exclusion from office would drive
him into furious opposition ; and, Pepys being known to be
very feeble in debate, the object was to select an assistant
champion for the defence of the Government. A most unfor-
tunate choice was made, and it was very speedily repented of.
Lynciimrst The consequenco was, that in the ensiling session of Par-
House of liament Lyndhurst was compared to " a bull in a china shop."
Lords " like Bi-Qugham took his exclusion so much to heart, and was so
a bull ma".
china shop." much depressed, that his health suffered, his reason was in
danger, and he remained in seclusion at his house in West-
morland. The new Chancellor, although an excellent Equity
Judge, could hardly put two sentences together in the House
of Lords ; and the new Master of the Kolls, under the title of
Lord Langdale, according to his own confession — " when he
rose to speak, did not know whether his head or his heels
were uppermost," and, intending to support ministers, unin-
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. Ill
teiitionallv inflicted a mortal avouucI ou a Chancery Eeforni CHAP.
Bill, 'Nvliicli they had introduced. Lyndhurst, under these '
circumstances, took advantage of his position, laying down a.d. 183G.
for law wliat suited his purpose, and making very unfair
attacks upon members of tlie Government who belonged to
the other house of parliament.
A bill for disfranchising the borough of Stafford offered
him irresistible temptation to assail the Attorney General,
under pretence of defending him. Altliough the fact was
well known that every member who had sat for Stafford
during the last hundred years had j)aid " head-money " to the
voters as regularly as he paid fees to the officers of the House
of Commons when he was sworn in, and it had been proved
before the committee that Sir John Campbell liad conformed
to the usage, yet Lyndhurst pretended to disbelieve this evi-
dence, and opposed the further progress of the bill, unless
the preamble were proved by witnesses examined on oath
at the bar.
" Why, my Lords," said he, with affected solemnity, while His renewed
there was a broad arrin upon the face of every other peer present, attack on
T • 1 1 -. , ,1 . ■■ -Ti theAttor-
" m the evidence on which you are asked to pass this bill, a case ney General
of the grossest bribery and corruption is made out against his for briber\-
Majesty's Attorney General. Will your Lordships assume that
charge to be established without affording to Mr, Attorney the
opportunity of appearing at your bar to defend himself against an
accusation so grave ? I am making no rash or unfounded asser-
tion. I will read to your Lordships that part of the evidence
which must induce your Lordships unanimously to invite him to
refute the calumny : —
" Q. ' Have you any knowledge of any bribery or corrupt
practices having taken place at the last election, or any previous
election for Staffoi'd?- — A. Not at the last; but at Sir John
Campbell's in 1831.
" Q. ' ^^'hat are you? — A. I am a solicitor by profession.
" Q. ' Do you know of voters being paid ? — A. I paid them
myself at Sir John Campbell's election.
" Q. ' In what interest were you ? — A. In Sir John Campbell's.
" Q. 'How many did you pay? — A. 531 out of 5o6.
" Q. ' W hat was the sum of money paid ? — A. £3 10s. for a single
vote, and £6 for a plumper.
112 BEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. " Q. ' Did you pay every voter ? — A. There were 556 voters,
VI
and 531 1 paid.'
*
A.D. 183(3. u rp^j^^. solicitor tliere clearly iniputes to the Attorney
General the infamous crime of briber}^ and corruption. A
Stafford banker follows, who says, that 'Sir John Campbell,
while a candidate, liad drawn upon their bank to the amount
of thousands of pounds.' But it is impossible for j'our Lord-
shijDS, upon such an improbable tale, to proceed to the dis-
franchisement of this borough." I
Lyndhui-st's As the sGssion advanced — Lyndliurst finding that he had
"oHcv"^*'^^ supreme sway in the House of Lords, and that, by reason of
the growing unpopularity of the ministry, the obstruction
of their measures, even the most salutary, caused little public
indignation, — hardly any Government bills were allowed to
pass. Some were pusillanimously surrendered as soon as an
intimation was given by the " Obstructer General' that they
were not approved. But several, which I had introduced, and
carried through the House of Commons, I insisted that Lord
Melbourne should struggle for to the last. The object of
these was to remedy the mutilations which the Municipal
Eeform Bill had suffered in the last session, and to supply
defects which experience had proved to lessen its utility.
Lyndliurst smashed them all, without discrimination and
without remorse. Peel still supporting us upon this subject,
we persisted in the attempt to carry our Bill, the necessity
for which was most pressing and most palpable, till there
was a collision between the two Houses such as had not
occurred since the time of the Eevolution in 1689. Each
refusing to give way, and no effect being produced b}^ reasons
assigned in writing at dose conferences, we at last came to
an open confereiice in the Painted Chamber, which was con-
ducted according to the ancient forms. One peer being
* This witness had betrayed me, and gone over to the enemj-. This part
of his evidence, however, was quite true.
t 32 Hansard, 1005.
Extract from a letter to my brother, dated 12/7;. July, 1836 : —
" I was in the House of Lords in a peerage case to-day. I asked Lyndhurst
if he thought it a magnanimous warfare which the House of Lords was
carrying on against me. He protested ignorance of any bad design, and swore
that all he had said was in fun."
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHUKST. 113
considered equal to two commoners, we, the managers for the CHAP.
Lower House, were twice as numerous as the managers for '"
the Upper House ; but, considered little better than a mob, a.d. 1836.
we stood bareheaded, while their Lordships sat covered. The
debate was a sharp one, although conducted with decorum, and
we certainly had the best of the argument. As might easily
have been foreseen, no converts were made, and on our return
to our own House we soon had a message from the Lords that
" their Lordships still insisted on their amendments," which
nullified the bill. It was then abandoned, amidst bitter com-
plaints against their Lordships and their factious adviser.
These at last found sympathy with the public, and Lyndhurst
was severely blamed by the press and at public meetings.
In the hope of j^alliating his conduct, a few days before the Lyndhurst's
conclusion of the Session, he delivered one of his ablest and theSessiW'
most memorable speeches. A few specimens will show
sufficiently its tone and character : —
" It is with extreme reluctance that I rise to address you on 18th Aug.
this occasion ; but I am charged with having ' mutilated ' bills
laid on your Lordships' table by his Majesty's Govei-nment.
A noble Lord has stated in distinct terms that the course which
I have individually jDursued has been calculated to alienate from
your Lordships' House the regard and the respect of the country.
It is obvious that these charges are to take a wider range than
the circle in which I move, and to make a lasting impression
against me in the minds of all whom my name has ever reached.
Therefore have I felt myself called upon to rise for the purpose
of entering on a vindication of my character, which has been so
unjustly assailed."
He proceeds to contend generally that he, and those with
whom he acted, constituted the mildest, the most forbearing,
the most disinterested, and the most constitutional opposition
ever known since Parliaments began, and thus prepares for
an illustration of his merits on particular occasions : —
" My Lords, it is impossible to take a view, however slight, of
the discussion in which we have been engaged, without referring
to his Majesty's speech at the commencement of the Session, and
without contrasting the brilliant anticipations with which we
began, with the sad reality which we have since had to deplore.
The result has been as disproportioned in execution to the
VOL. VIII. I
A.D. 1836.
114 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, expectations wliicli were held out, as the lofty position of the noble
^^' Viscount at that period with what he will allow me to style his
humble condition at the present moment. Gazing on these two
pictures, one is tempted to apply to the noble Viscount that
which was said of a predecessor of the noble Viscount in the
hio-h office of first Minister of the Crown, who, in the careless
confidence of his character, I cannot help thinking, bore some
resemblance to his noble successor : —
' His promises were as he then was — mighty ;
But his performance as he is now — nothing.' "
Lyndhurst then goes over seriatim the various measures
recommended in the King's Speech, and shows that, not-
withstanding his desire to support them as far as he could
conscientiously, they had either entirely miscarried in Parlia-
ment, or had been partially adopted in an altered form. Thus
he perorates : —
" In former times, my Lords, amid such defeats and disasters,
and unable to carry those measures which he considered essential
and necessary, a minister would have thought that he had only
one course to pursue. These are antiquated notions — everything
has changed. This fastidious delicacy forms no part of the
character of the noble Viscount. He has told us, and his acts
correspond with his assertions, that, notwithstanding the in-
subordination which prevails around him, in spite of the sullen
and mutinous temper of his crew, he will stick to the vessel
while a single plank remains afloat. Let me, however, as a
friendly adviser of the noble Viscount, recommend him to get her
as speedily as possible into still water.
' Fortiter occupa
Portum.'
" Let the noble Viscount look to the empty benches around him.
' . . . nonne vides, ut
Nudum remigio kitus,
ac sine funibus
Vix durare carinse
Possiut imperiosius
Aequor ? '
After all, there is something in the efforts and exertions of the
noble Viscount not altogether unamusing. It is impossible,
under any circumstances, not to respect
' A brave man struggling in the storms of fate.'
May a part, at least, of what follows be averted : —
' And greatly falling with a falling state.'
A.D. 1836.
LIFE OF LOED LTNDHUKST. 115
"My consolation is, that whatever "be the disposition of tlie CHAP,
noble Viscount, he has not sufficient strength, though his locks,
I believe, are yet unshorn, to pull down the pillars of the building,
and involve the whole in his ruin; I trust it will long survive
his fall."
It was supposed that he would conclude by moving an
address to the King " to remove his present Ministers from
his presence and councils for ever;" but the actual motion
(which caused considerable merriment) was for " a return of
the public bills which had been introduced into Parliament
during the present Session, with the dates of their being
rejected or abandoned, or receiving the royal assent."
Lord Holland expressed some astonishment that the noble
Lord, instead of being ashamed of the devastation he had
committed in the Parliamentar}'^ campaign, seemed to glory
in his exploits, and to have made this motion that he might
have an opportunity of recapitulating them, like Alexander
at the famous " feast for Persia won " : —
" Soothed with the sound the King grew vain.
Fought all his battles o'er again,
And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain."
Lord Melbourne. — " I readily admit the great powers and Lord Mel-
eloquence possessed by the noble and learned Lord opposite — ijoiirnes
his clearness in argument' and his dexterity in sarcasm cannot him.
be denied ; and if the noble and learned Lord will be satisfied with
a compliment confined strictly to ability, I am ready to render
that homage to him. But, my Lords, ability is not evei'ything
— propriety of conduct — the verecimdia — should be combined
with the ingennim, to make a great man and a statesman. It is
not enough to be durce frontis, perditoe, audacice. The noble and
learned Lord has referred to various historical characters, to
whom he has been pleased to say that I bear some resemblance.
I beg in return to refer him to what was once said by the Earl
of Bristol of another great statesman of former times (the Earl of
Strafford), to whom, I think, the noble and learned Lord might
not inapplicably be compared. ' The malignity of his practices
was hugely aggravated b}^ his vast talents, whereof God had
given him the use, but the devil the application.' What must
the House think of the noble and learned Lord when he con-
cludes his speech with a miserable motion for returns, which,
from the numerous minute details entered upon by him in the
I 2
116
EEIGN OF "WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. 1836.
Lyndhurst
supports the
Prisoner's
Counsel
Bill,
answering
his former
speech a-
gainst it.
A.D. 1837.
Coalition of
Lyndhurst
and
Brougham
against the
Govern-
ment.
course of his address, he seems to be familiarly acquainted with,
and to have been long conning over ? "
Lord Melbourne then, in what was considered the best
speech he ever delivered, went through the bills which Lynd-
hurst had factiously defeated, showing that several of the
most important of them had been supported by the great
bulk of the Conservative party in the other House, and thus
concluded : —
" The noble and learned Lord kindly advises me to resign,
notwithstanding his own great horror of taking office after his
ambition is already so fully satisfied. But I will tell the noble
and learned Lord that I will not be accessary to the sacrifice of
himself which he would be ready to make if the duties of the Great
Seal were again forced upon him. I conscientiously believe that
the well-being of the country requires that I should hold my
present office — and hold it I will — till T am constitutionally
removed from it." *
The debate being over, the desperate audacity of the noble
and learned Lord was converted into a good-humoured smile,
and, going over to Lord Melbourne, they laughed and joked
together, both pleased with themselves, thinking that in
this rencontre each had tilted to the admiration of the by-
standers.
I ought to have mentioned that, during this session, Lynd-
hurst did support one good measure, which he had formerly
violently opposed — the bill for allowing prisoners the benefit
of counsel on all criminal trials. Fortunatelv, this time it
was not brought in by the Government, and Lyndhurst now
said that " withholding from prisoners in any case the aid of
counsel was a disgraceful remnant of our barbarous criminal
code ; " and, without ever alluding to the fact that he had
before opposed the Bill totis viribus, he gave an admirable
answer to all his former arguments against it.
In 1837 the House of Lords assumed a new aspect, and
Lyndhurst gained a most formidable ally, of whose assistance
he unsparingly availed himself, if he had anything to say or
to do of which he was ashamed. Brougham was, at last,
convinced that what had been hinted to him about " superabie
* 35 Hansaid, 1282.
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 117
objections " iu the royal mind was pure fiction, and that the CHAP.
Whig leaders were determined never again to sit with him in '
the Cabinet, xifter a very narrow escape from insanity, a.d. 1837.
having recovered both his physical and intellectual vigour,
he returned to London, breathing revenge against his former
associates. Lyndhurst not only incensed him still more bv
an exaggerated statement of his wrongs, but ambiguously
held out to him vague hopes of being taken up by the
Conservatives. Said he, " We are no longer to be considered
Tories ; we are actually more inclined to reform than the
Whig party when you first joined it, — so that you may now
coalesce with us without inconsistency, — leaving the apostate
Whigs under the bondage of O'Connell and the ultra-Eadicals."
What other arguments were used, I know not, and it would
be idle to conjecture ; but certain it is that Lyndhurst soon
acquired a complete ascendancy over Brougham's mind, which
he has preserved, in a great degree, down to the present
time. One art has been used, very palpably, by Lyndhurst, —
to make Brougham believe that he influences Lyndhurst,
and that Lyndhurst, whether in office or not, in point of con-
sideration in the House of Lords, is contented to be second to
him, but at a long interval. Lyndhurst pretended to abdicate
the lead of tlie House of Lords in his favour, and, urging him
to do what would be annovinir to the Government, himself
remained silent. When they were both standing together
at the bar, I asked Lyndhurst what he now meant to do about
the Irish Municipal Reform Bill, which he had contrived to
defeat in the two preceding sessions. " Me !" exclaimed he,
" what I mean to do ! I never oj)en my mouth now, and I
oppose nothing. Ask Brougham, there, what he means to do.
He is the man now. Brougham, lend me your majority —
and ' I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.' "
Assuredly he did long preserve a most wonderful reticence ;
but upon the motion for going into committee on this very
bill, he again broke out, delivering a long and furious speech
against it, or rather against its authors : —
" If the bill deserved all the praises bestowed upon it, what
is the situation in which his Majesty's ministers stand? In
no former period of our history has the government of this
118
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. 1837.
Bill to abo-
lish impri-
sonment for
debt.
country been placed in sucli a position. To whom do they
look for sxipport ? To the enemies of the Protestant Establish-
ment. In Ireland their supporters are composed of the declared
enemies of the Protestant Church in that country. In England
the Dissenters are their chief friends and patrons. Deprive
them of such supporters, and what becomes of the Govern-
ment? They feel that they are gone, and that they cannot
■float or draw breath a minute longer. My Lords, where is
this to stop ? Concession leads to concession. When will the
noble Viscount stop in his downward career? The Minis-
terialists themselves say ' We will receive all you offer, but
we will take it only as an instalment, and we will never cease
agitating till the Protestant Church is laid prostrate.' And this,
the noble Viscount tells us, is the only mode of governing Ireland.
It seems, my Lords, that we Protestant Englishmen are to be
governed by those who are aliens in blood, in language, in religion."*
However, the friends of Sir Eobert Peel, guided by his
example, and alarmed for the consequences if the bill
were again rejected, refused to stand by Lyndhurst any
longer, and the bill was allowed to pass with a few slight
mutilations.
Lyndhurst was about this time much alarmed by a bill I
had introduced to abolish imprisonment for debt, and to pro-
vide a more efiScient remedy for creditors, by the personal
examination of the debtor as to his property and his past
expenditure. As the bill originally stood, there was no
limit to this power of inquiry, and every one was subject
to it against whom a judgment was recovered. The stories
about executions in Lyndhurst's house, I believe, were un-
founded ; but he was still needy from inconsiderate expendi-
ture, and it was by no means clear that a judgment for
a debt might not have been suddenly obtained against
him. He came privately to me, and pointed out the
oppression and extortion which might be practised by the
power proposed to be given to judgment creditors, and insisted
that, as the members of the two Houses were not subject to
imprisonment for debt, they ought not to be subject to the
inquisition substituted for it. There seemed to me to be
reason in what he said, and I agreed to have the ob-
* 38 Hansard, I30S.
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 119
noxious clause amended ; but, as expressly to exempt peers CHAP,
and members of the House of Commons from the pressure '
intended to compel the payment of just debts, as far as means a.d. 1837.
existed, might have appeared invidious, we altered the enact-
ment so as to gain our object, and finally the bill passed.
William IV. was now dying, and the Tories sanguinely Death of
looked forward to the commencement of. a new reign. The Accession of
power of the Crown in choosing ministers has been so much Q^^^f^" ^'c-
reduced that the Sovereign of England may be aptly com-
pared to the marker in a billiard-room, who looks on, and
declares which competitor has won the game. Still, on rare
occasions, when parties are nearly balanced, the royal will
for a time prevails. The Whigs, retaining a considerable
majority in the House of Commons, had, by resisting the
unreasonable zeal of the ultra-Eadicals for reforms incon-
sistent with our balanced constitution, lost pojjularity, and
now a strong government might have been formed under
Sir Eobert Peel, who would have coerced the ultra-Tories
led by Lord Lyndhurst. The Princess Victoria had cautiously
abstained from indicating any political bias, and the Tories,
hoj)ing that she would prove to be theirs, extravagantly
praised her nascent virtues. Terrible was their disappoint-
ment when it was announced that Lord Melbourne was to
continue Prime Minister ; and that, moreover, personally she
felt a filial regard for him which, now that she was on the
throne, she took no pains to conceal. A storm of vilification
arose against her which was very discreditable to the Tory
party. The practice was to contrast her invidiously with
Adelaide, the Queen Dowager, and at public dinners to receive
the Queen's health with solemn silence, while the succeeding
toast of tlie Queen Dowager was the signal for long-continued
cheers. Some writers went so far as to praise the Salic law, by
which females are excluded from the throne, pointing out the
happiness we should have enjoyed under the rule of the Duke
of Cumberland, now King of Hanover, but consoling the nation
by the assurance that his line would soon succeed, as the new
Queen, from physical defects, could never bear children.*
* Croker, in the 'Quarterly Keview,' distinctly eulogised the Salic law,
leaving the personal vituperation of the Queen to inferior hands.
120
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP. I must do Lynclhurst the justice to say, that he not only
' did not encourage, but that he sincerely lamented all these
A.D. 1837. foolish outrages, confining himself to what may be considered
Lyndhuist's fair parliamentary warfare. Before the impending dissolution
the Session. ^^ took liis annual review of the session, saying : —
" They were now at the close of the fifth month of the session
of Parliament, and not a single important bill had been yet
passed into law. They literally had done nothing during the
five months they had been assembled. As far as legislation was
concerned — and it was one of the most important duties of
government — they had done nothing."
Then, more suo, having gone over the measures recom-
mended from the Throne, the bills brought in, and the mise-
rable fate which they experienced, he thus concluded : —
" The noble Viscount and his colleagues are utterly powerless.
They are utterly inefficient and incompetent as servants to the
Crown, and I must add also they are equally inefficient and
incompetent as regards the people. Being now compelled to
say so much respecting legislation, I abstain for the present from
considering the foreign policy of the noble Lord and his col-
leagues, and I will only say that all reasonable men have but
one opinion of them — one idea is entertained respecting their
conduct. It elicits the pity of their friends, and excites the
scorn and derision of the enemies of our country. Such being
the past and the present, what hope is there for the future ?
From the noble Viscount and his party there is no hope. But I
do not entirely despair. A ray of hope breaks in upon us from
another quarter, and I trust that at no distant jDcriod the alarm
and apprehension on account of the danger to which the Church
establishment in this country is exposed will be dissipated, and
that perfect security will be given to the Protestant faith to
which the great bulk of her Majesty's subjects are so warmly
attached,"*
His second
mariia£;e.
Lord Lyndhurst had for some time been a gay widower,
but being at Paris in the autumn of 1837, he fell in love
with a beautiful Jewess. He gave her his hand, and spent
the honeymoon with her at Fontainebleau. He used to give
a glowing description of his happiness there, and she con-
tinued to make him a most excellent wife. She was the
* 38 Hansard, 15G8.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 121
dangliter of Lewis Goldsmith, a Portuguese Jew, once famous CHAP,
as the author of a Jacobinical, or rather regicidal, book — '
'The Crimes of Cabinets' — and who had been employed pri- a.d. 1837.
vately by all the great governments of Europe. Although
the new Lady Lyndhurst, like her predecessor, tried to
become a leader of fashion, she preserved an unsuspected
reputation, and took devoted care of her husband, who,
notwithstanding the juvenility of his mind and of his habits,
was now sinking into the vale of years.
During the following year the ray of hope, alluded to by a.d. 1838.
Lord Lyndhurst in his last speech, shone very faintly. The
Queen continued to support Lord Melbourne, and he, by his
very agreeable manners and excellent good sense, with the
powerful help of Lord John Russell, tided over the session
pretty smoothly. To be sure, the House of Lords was in a
state of sad insubordination, and there we were at the mercy
of our antagonists. The Chancellor (Lord Cottenham), with
rising reputation as an Equity Judge, showed no improve-
ment as a debater, and avoided any conflict with Brougham
as with an evil spirit. Set on by Lyndhurst, Brougham now
only considered how he could annoy and embarrass the
Government most eflectually. He did not profess to join
the Tories, and was sometimes ulWa-Radical in the principles
he professed ; but, whatever the Whigs did, his object was to
show that, since they ceased to be guided by him, they
were the most weak, ignorant, blundering, unconstitutional,
wretched, and contemptible set of men on whom chance had
ever conferred power. The rebellion in Canada having
broken out, there were frequent discussions upon colonial Bad law
and international law, in which Brougham, as suited the ^ ^jebate by
puri30se of the moment, would lay down the most extra- Broughara,
. •' at the insti-
vagant juridical doctrines. These Lyndhurst, I believe, gatiou of
secretly prompted ; but although he never questioned them, ^^yi^'ihurst.
he never openly corroborated them, for he was very chary
of his reputation as a lawyer, and would always keep within
the boundary which he encouraged others to transgress.
Brougham was now by far the more conspicuous ex-Chan-
cellor of the two, and Lyndhurst, delighted by observing
how perse veringly the Government was disparaged, re-
122 REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, mained silent. Satisfied with what he had done by proxy,
' he did not even, this year, finish with "a review of the
session."
A.D, 1839. In the following year Lyndhurst was cruelly tantalized.
Growing fQj, ^Yie Great Seal was not only visibly approachino- him, but
unpopu- . . . o '
laiity of the he had almost grasped it, when it was suddenly withdrawn
Govern-"^ from him, and he despondingly thought that it could never
ment, more be his. Lord Melbourne's Government was now becoming:
very weak. His alleged league with O'Counell, called the
"Lichfield House Compact," was very unpopular. In his
heart much more Conservative than Sir Eobert Peel, he
seemed occasionally to be ultra-Eadical ; and he did not pro-
ceed on any settled policy, but shaped his measures so
as best to preserve a majority in the House of Commons.
Contented with his own position and duties, he left the
heads of departments to do as they liked. Dining almost
constantly with the Queen, he neglected a most important
duty of a prime minister — to give dinners to his supporters.
Peel, on the contrary, by his assiduous attendance in the
House of Commons, by avoiding grossly factious opjDosition,
by the liberal indications he disclosed, and by the admirable
dinners which he gave to all men of any eminence who were
inclined towards him, stood very high in public opinion, and
might be expected soon to command a majority in both
Houses.
Discussion Lyndhurst opened the campaign in the Lords by bringing
hurst calling ^ charge agaiust the Government for the appointment of the
the Irish YIhyI of Fortcscue as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the sfround
ahens in . _ ' o
blood, Ian- being that he was unfit for this or any office under the
rehlon"" Crown, bccausc, when a member of the House of Commons
(under the title of Lord Ebrington), in speaking upon a bill
for the better collection of tithes in Ireland, he was reported
to have said, " I do not approve of the bill itself, but I support
it because I am satisfied that the effect of it will be to render
the war now raging against the Protestant Church in Ireland
more formidable." The first move was by putting a ques-
tion to Lord Melbourne — " Whether, when he recommended
that noble lord to fill the situation of Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, he was aware of the noble lord having used such
LIFE OP LORD LYNDHURST. 123
lanf^iiaf^e." Lord Fortescue was absent, but Lord Lansdowne CHAP.
. YI
defended him, and concluded with the observation that, "if '
there was a noble lord in that House who was eminently a.d. i839.
interested in not having a particular expression which was
used in one of the Houses of Parliament treated as a disquali-
fication for office, that individual was the noble and learned
lord himself."
Lord Lyndlmrst. — " I beg, with all deference and submission
to the noble Marquess, to state that I am not ashamed of any
expression ever used by me in any debate either in this or the
other House of Parliament. I am aware of the expression to
wdiich the noble Lord alludes, and I have over and over aeain
explained the sense in which I used it. If the expression used
by the new Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was known to those who
recommended him to the office, I am justified in saying that his
appointment is a declaration of war on the part of the Govern-
ment against the Protestant Church of Ireland."
Lord Brougham. — " Allusion is made to a sjjeech made by my
noble and learned friend three years ago ; but there is this
diiference between the two cases, that my noble and learned
friend has denied that speech."
Lord Lansdowne. — " He has not denied a word of it."
Lord Lyndlmrst. — " The sense in which I used the expression
referred to I have already fully explained. I had the choice of
two expressions ; I might have made use of the word ' race,' but
I spoke of ' aliens,' and in what signification I have repeatedly
stated."
On a subsequent day Lord Fortescue, having taken his
seat in the House of Lords, fully explained the words he had
used on the occasion referred to, and showed that they
had been entirely misrepresented. Lyndhurst being again
taunted with his denunciation of the Irish as " aliens in blood,
language, and religion," he very candidly said : —
" My lords, considering the impression which that language
has created in Ireland — considering the use that has been made
of it — considering the odium that has, been cast upon me in
consequence of it, I sa}^ in answer to the question put to me,
that 1 should consider it a decided disqualification to me for
holding that appointment." *
* 45 Hansonl, 950, 1144. Ljoidhurst made a poor excuse for his indisci'e-
tion by saying that although he called the Irish alieris, he did uot meau to use
124 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP. There was a suspension of hostilities in the House of Lords ;
but in the House of Commons there were keen struogles
A.D. 1839. every evening, the Ministerialists becoming constantly weaker
6th May. and at last they suffered what they considered an entire defeat
^f 7^"^'^'°'^ on the Jamaica Bill. As we had still a majority oijive, I said
Melbourne, to Lord Melbourne, on accidentally meeting him next
morning, " We must celebrate our victory of last night in
pentameters." Lo7'd Melbourne. — " We are all out, and you
are again plain John Campbell." He had been with the
Queen, and had tendered the resignation of all the members
of the Cabinet, which had been accepted. Not the smallest
difficulty was anticipated in any quarter in the formation of
the new government.
New Go- Veel retained his distrust of Lyndhurst, but, considering:
vernment . *L °
upset by dis- his asccudaucy m the House of Lords, could not possibly
Fadies^of"the ^^'^^^ ^^^ aside. So it was at once arranged that he should
bedchamber, resumc the Great Seal, and his name was put second in the
list of members of the new Cabinet submitted to her Majesty,
to which she made no objection. Lyndhurst was very much
elated, and through a common friend entered into a negoti-
ation with Lord Cottenham for fixing the day when the
transfer of the Great Seal should take place, a complimentary
hint being thrown out that an early day would probably not
be inconvenient to Lord Cottenham, as he had so few Judg-
ments in arrear. Two days after, I called on Lord Cotten-
ham to arrange some matters with him upon our retirement.
On entering I said, " I had just heard a rumour that there
was a screw loose in the new Government." " A screw loose,"
said he [the only time in all my life I ever knew him to be
excited — now he flourished his hand over his head] — " a screw
loose in the new Government! It has all fallen to joieces,
and we are in again stronger than ever." Next evening
came explanations in the two Houses of Parliament about the
" aliens " in its usual sense. • He should boldly have justified himself by the
well-known passage from Sir John Da vies, " The mere Irish were not only
accounted aliens, but enemies, so as it was no capital offence to kill them."
In Sir John Davies' Eeports may be seen a plea of justification to an indict-
ment for murder in Ireland, that the deceased was a mere Irishman, mere
Hibernicus. The plea being allowed to be good in law, issue is joined upon
the fact whether the deceased was one of the Aborigines, so as to make his
death a case of " killincr no murder."
LIFE OF LOED LTNDHUEST. ' 125
removal of tlie Ladies of the Bedchamber, the Queen's letter ^"^;^^-
V J,
to Sir Eobert Peel, written by the advice of her former
servants, stating that " she could not consent to a course a.d, 1839.
which she conceived to be contrary to usage, and which was
repugnant to her feelings," and the famous Cabinet minute
that " the principle of removing the household on a cliauge
of Government ought not to be applied or extended to the
offices held by ladies in her Majesty's household."
There had been no actual surrender of the emblems of
office, nor formal appointment of successors; so the march
of government was resumed as if it had met with no inter-
ruption. I happened to be standing below the bar of the
House of Lords on the first day that Lyndhurst showed him-
self after his disappointment. He was approaching me on
his way to his seat, not on the woolsack, but on one of the
back benches, which he usually occupied, and which I used
to tell him was called " the Castle of Obstruction." He
was afraid to meet my eye, and he tried to pass me as if I
had been a stranger. I merely whispered in his ear, " How
sadly Peel bungled it ! — when we next resign you must take
the construction of the new Government (all the ladies of the
household included) into your own hands." He silently
shook his head, and passing within the bar, again took the
command of his stronghold.
However, he fired very few shots from it for the remainder
of this campaign, till he finished off with his grand review.
To me he intimated an opinion that we could not last
through the Session, and that Peel would immediately have
everythmg so completely his own way, that, in forming a new
Government, he could not again "bungle it." Nevertheless
these hopes were frustrated for two long years.
The English Radicals, whom I have often been obliged to Uniform
censure, on the present occasion behaved well, for they agreed ^™"(,.j^jgj^'
to support the Whigs, on one condition, that the " uniform
penny postage" should be adopted. To this — the greatest
social improvement of modern times — Mr. Spring Rice, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, was opposed, and there was
great difficulty in prevailing upon the Cabinet to agree
to it. As member for the City of Edinburgh I headed
126
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, a, deputation upon the subject to Lord Melbourne, and we
' expressly told him that "if he would persist in cramping
A.D. 1839. commerce and preventing relations who were separated from
carrying on an affectionate correspondence, — he charging
one shilling and two pence for carrying a letter between
London and Edinburgh, the expense of which might be
covered by one halfpenny, — we were resolved that his
Government should not stand." Strange to say, the measure
was condemned by all Tories, and disrelished by many
Whios, and the merit of it is due to the Radicals. Its
success has been great, beyond my most sanguine calcula-
tions, for it has been adopted by foreign nations, and has
proved a blessing to the human race.
Lyndhurst was much surpi-ised and mortified by observing
how smoothly we went on, by quietly sacrificing the bills
which he was resolved to smother when they came witliin his
grasp.
23id Aug. However, before the prorogation, he again emptied upon us
the vials of his wrath. He began a very elaborate harangue
by saying, "ilfore meo, I will compare the promises of the
noble Viscount with his performances." He then went over
the measures recommended in the Queen's speech, and showed
how none of them had been carried. Thus he moralised : —
Another " What is the conclusion to be drawn from such a state of
sessional things ? Obviously this : her Majesty's Ministers, at the com-
Loid Lynd- mencement of the session, stated in this document deliberately
hurst. the opinion they themselves entertained as to the measures of
legislation which the interests of the country required ; they
stated what, in their judgment, the country had a right to expect
from a vigorous, an able, and an effective administration. Not
one of these objects has been accomplished. They have thus
enabled us to contrast their own opinion of what their duty
required with their subsequent performance. They have thus
pronounced their own condemnation. The Ministrj^ has passed
judgment on itself — hahemus confitentem reum. And yet, my
Lords, these men still continue to hold the reins, without being
able to direct tiie course of government.
' versate diu, quid ferre recuseut,
Quid valeant humeri '
is applicable not to poetry alone ; it extends equally and em-
phatically to those who undertake to conduct the affairs of a
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHURST. 127
VI.
A.D. 1839.
great empire. To undertake the conduct of such affairs without CHAP.
possessing the vigour, or the capacity, or the Parliamentary con-
fidence and support necessary to carry such measures as are
essential to the interests of the country, is considered, and
justly, by the constitution of these realms as a high misde-
meanour, as subjecting the parties to impeachment."
He next commented on the dispute about the ladies of the
bed-chamber : —
" Her Majesty's Ministers tendered their resignation. That
resignation Avas accepted, and they stated that they only held
office till their successors were appointed. Then commenced the
negotiation for forming another administration. While these
were still in progress, the Ministers, who only held office till
their siTCcessors were appointed, interposed individually and col-
lectively with their counsel— advised the letter addressed by her
Majesty to Sir Eobert Peel, and were thus the negotiators with
their political opponents. In the result they advised her Majesty
to break off the negotiation and to restore themselves to the
position they formerly occupied, — for that was the constitutional
effect of the whole proceeding. Such a coixrse of conduct never
before occurred in the history of this country, and I trust in God
it never will occur again. And what, my Lords, was the first
act of the restored Government? to draw up their celebrated
Cabinet minute — a document historically false, argumentatively
false, legally false — and the unconstitutional character of which
was only equalled by its folly, its extravagance, and its ab-
surdity."
He then finished with the following attack on Lord John
Kussell : —
" We all remember the period when the noble Lord, now at
the head of the Home Department, received an address from
150,000 persons assembled in the neighbourhood of Birmingham,
ready at the word of command to march upon London. With
affected humility, for
' lowliness is young ambition's ladder,'
he received the address — 'he was utterlj^ unworth}^ of the great
honour conferred upon him ; ' — ' he was deeply grateful for it ; ' — •
and then it was that the noble Lord drew a comparison between the
conduct of that meeting and the proceedings of your Lordships'
House ; designating the one as the voice of the nation, and the other
as the whisjjer of a faction. It is for the countiy to say whether
A.D. 1839.
128 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA/
CHAP, it will longer sixbmit to be ruled by sucli men. I bave clone my
duty by exposing tbeir misconduct."
Lord Melbourne. — " Tbe real object of the observations of the
noble and learned Lord (although not avowed by him) is to
foster any discontent that may exist in the country, to increase
any unpopularity which he conceives we may labour under ; and
the noble and learned Lord has undertaken the more hopeless,
and, as I apprehend, the impossible task of raising himself in the
estimation of his fellow citizens. The noble and learned Lord
may possibly prove that we are unfit to conduct the affairs of the
country ; he may possibly show that we are unfit for the difficult
position in which we are placed ; but as to gaining for himself
anything of credit, as to gaining for himself anything of
character, as to conciliating any confidence towards himself and
towards those who would have to administer the government of
this country if it had the misfortune to be placed in his hands,
the noble and learned Lord may depend upon it that if his
powers were 10,000 times what they are, he would be utterly
unable to effect any such Herculean laboui-."*
A.D. 1840. During the whole session of 1840 Lyndhurst was very
Lyndhurst's inactive. The question of parliamentary privilege between
the great"^ ^^® House of Comuions and the Court of Queen's Bench was
question now raging, and it placed him in a disagreeable predica-
pariiamen- mcut. For the sakc of annoying the Government, he was
tary privi- strongly inclined to attack the proceedings of the House
of Commons ; but Peel had honestly and gallantly taken the
other side, although he thereby displeased a large section of
his party. Till this matter was adjusted, Lyndhurst saw that
the Whigs were safe; for the Conservatives, while divided,
could not form an administration. He therefore agreed to
Lord John Eussell's proposal that the Gordian knot should
be cut by legislation, and he supported the bill, declaring
that, as the right of the two Houses of Parliament to publish
whatever they think it material that the people should know
is essential to the due exercise 'of their functions, no action
shall be maintained for any publication authorised by either
House. So sincere was he that, by dexterous management, he
gained over the Duke of Wellington, who had been capti-
vated by the sophism that " the legislature cannot morally
* 50 Hansard, 490.
LIFE OF LOED LYNDHURST. 129
justify the iDublication of a libel." Appealing to the excellent CHAP.
discrimination of the illustrious warrior on all subjects, he
at last made him understand that a writing which charges a.d. iSiO.
another with misconduct is not necessarily a libel ; otherwise
the criminal justice of the country could not be administered ;
and that, to make it a .libel, it must be published Avith a
mahcious motive, and without a»y laudable purpose being
served by the publication. According to this definition of
libel, neither the printer of the House of Commons nor tliose
by whose orders he acts could be charged with the guilt of
libelling.
Lyndhurst likewise persuaded Lord Denman to agree to the
bill, although it amounted to a reversal of his own judgment
in Stochdale v. Hansard, by reciting that the power recognised
and protected was essentially necessary for the exercise of
the inquisitorial and legislative functions of Parliament. So
the bill received the Eoyal Assent, the Sheriffs of London
were discharged out of custody, the publication of parlia-
mentary papers has since been free, and no question of privi-
lege has subsequently arisen between the Houses of Par-
liament and the Courts of Law.
Lyndhurst was now so strongly convinced that it was his
policy not to deal in factious assaults upon the Government,
but to see it quietly sinking in public estimation, that he this
session allowed an Irish Municipal Keform Bill, which he had
hitherto strenuously opposed, to pass as if it had been a
private bill for inclosing a common. He was, no doubt,
partly actuated by the consideration that his return to office
was certainly near at hand, and that then he would be obliged
to undergo once more the damaging, if not painful, operation
of sudden conversion ; for Peel had supported this Irish bill,
and if not previously passed, it would have been one of the
first measures of his new administration.
1 now come to the year when the long-looked-for change a.d. 1841.
actually did take place, and Lyndhurst was Chancellor for
the fourth time.
At the meeting of Parliament the public was amused 2Gth Jan,
with the farce of Lord Cardigan's trial ; and then began the
struggle in the House of Commons which terminated in
VOL. VIII. K
130 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
^^^- the complete overtlirow of the Whig Government. Lynd-
hurst anxiously, but silently, looked on. He now felt himself
A.D. 1841. much more dependent upon Peel than he had been when
Lyndhuist's there could be no Conservative competitor for the Great Seal.
position in -p^ , t • i • • i
1841. remberton Leigh, an eminent equity lawyer, who had refused
the office of Solicitor General, had distinguished himself in
the House of Commons oif the Conservative side, and would
have made a most excellent Chancellor,* — and Sir William
Follett, who had been Solicitor General during "the hun-
dred days," had displayed great debating powers, possessed
Peel's entire confidence, and was looked forward to as the
future Chancellor. Lyndhurst, therefore, could no longer
set up for himself, or venture to do anything to offend Peel,
who was now recognised as the sole master of the destinies of
Conservatism.
Lord Melbourne, although while minister he had declared
that '■' to propose a repeal of the Corn Laws would be mad-
ness," as a last resort consented that a fixed duty — which
amounted in effect to a repeal of the Corn Laws — should be
proposed as a measure of his Government. But this alienated
many Whig supporters, and gave fresh energy to Tory oppo-
sition. In consequence, the leading proposals of the ministerial
budget were rejected by the House of Commons. A hope was
fostered that Free Trade was more popular in the country
4th June, and a dissolution was determined upon. Peel then moved a
direct vote of want of confidence, which was carried by a
22nd June, majority of one. Still many friends of the Government thought
tliat an appeal to the people would be successful, and Par-
liament was dissolved.
I cannot speak from my own observation of what was now
going on in England, for I had been sent to Ireland to succeed
Lord Plunket as Lord Chancellor there ; but I was told that
Lyndhurst watched the elections with very great solicitude,
(General and that wlieii the returns were decidedly on the Conservative
Election. ^^^q^ ^^.qq trade professions as yet meeting with little favour,
* August 15th, 1858. The ' Loudon Gazette ' announces tliat Pemberton
Leigh is raised to the Peerage by tlie title of " Baron Kingsdown, of Kings-
down in the county of Kent." He will greatly strengthen the appellate
jurisdiction of the House of Lords.
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHUEST. 131
Peel intimated to liim tliat he should wish for his assistance CHAP,
in the new Government, which he must be commissioned to
form on the meeting of the new Parliament.
When I came over from Ireland to take my seat in the ^.d. 1841,
House of Lords, I was like a convict led out to execution.
We full well knew our fate ; but we resolved to put a good
face upon it, to meet Parliament, and to make the Queen
deliver a speech in favour of Free Trade. Then came the i9th Aug.
Amendment in both Houses, — " to assure her Majesty that
no measures could be properly considered while her Majesty
had advisers who did not enjoy the confidence of Parliament."
This was carried by large majorities in both Houses, and of 30th Aug.
course led to a resignation of the Whig ministers.
K 2
132 KEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOKIA.
CHAPTER VII.
LOED CHANCELLOR UNDER SIR ROBERT PEEL.
September, 1841 — July, 1846.
CHAP. After a sliort adiournment durino- tlie construction of the
VII . .
new Cabinet, which had been long foreseen and pre-arranged,
A.D. 1841. Lyndhurst re-entered the House of Lords, preceded by his
6tii Sept. inace-bearer and his purse-bearer with the Great Seal, and
Lyndhurst ^q^j^^ j^jg pj^ce Oil the woolsack. He was excessively nervous,
again Chan- ... j ^
ceilor. and, looking bewildered, did not seem at all to recollect the
forms with which he had so long been familiar. Lord
Melbourne, in a loud whisper, said to me, " Who would think
that this is the same impudent dog who bullied us so uncon-
scionably in his ' Reviews of the Session ' ? " But Lyndhurst
was soon himself again, laughing at everybody and every-
thing, and especially delighting in a jest against any of his
colleagues.
Prorogation, Duriug this brief session the new Chancellor only spoke
once — which was respecting an amendment (my cow^ d'essai
in the House of Lords) upon a bill for the creation of two
additional Vice Chancellors. I proposed to provide "that
Irish as well as English barristers should be considered
qualified for the appointment." He consented to the amend-
ment ; but slyly insinuated that the only object of the Hish
ex-Chancellor was to make himself less unpopular in Ireland ;
that Irish barristers might give him a more cordial reception
than he had experienced when he first visited that country to
supersede Lord Plunket.
Conclusion g^^. JJobcrt Pccl uow preserved the most profound silence
of first ses- . i p mi i /^ i •
sion of the respecting his future measures. Ihe late (jroverument having
ment^^^^^^' ^lissolved Parliament and gone to the country upon their
Eree-Trade budget, " Protection " was the cry of their oppo-
nents, and this cry had produced the overwhelming majority
LIFE OF LORD LYNDHTJEST. 133
by which the Whio-s were crushed. The new Premier was a CHAP.
• • . VII
" free-trader " in his heart, and already meditated the com- ^_
mercial reform which he afterwards accomplished. But as a.d. 1841.
yet neither friend nor foe could extort from him any avowal
of his intentions ; and, having carried a few unimportant bills,
he hurried on the prorogation. In the evening before the
day of tliis ceremony — entering the House of Lords a few
minutes past five — I found Lyndhurst returning to his private
room, after an adjournment had been moved and carried,
there appearing no business to be brought forward. I com-
plained to him of this sudden adjournment as a trick — saying
that, " being now in opposition, I was coming down, after his
examjDle, to take " a review of the session," that I might con-
trast the promises of the Conservative party with their per-
formance since they had been in office. Injndhurst. — " If you
had been as wise as we have been, and not brought forward
measures to be rejected, I might still have been taking
' a review of the session,' and you might have been enjoying
the sweets of power."
I ouoht to mention that in a very oblisfinof and erood- Lyn^ihurst's
natured manner he now gave me a small place for my clerk, disposition.
who had been with me when I was Chancellor in Ireland, and
who was cast away along with me in the recent wreck. To
excite me to discontent and desertion, he pretended to say
that the Whigs were much to blame in leaving me without
any retired allowance or provision of any sort. But I was
quite content to remain five years Avorking for the public in
the judicial business of the House of Lords; and in the
judicial Committee of the Privy Council. I had voluntarily
waived mv claim to the retired allowance of Irish Chan-
cellor, and I had no right to complain.
On the first day of Michaelmas term, Lord Chancellor Lyndhmst's
Lyndhurst again received the Judges and Queen's Counsel ci",'neeiioi-
at his levee, and led the grand procession to Westminster ^iiip.
Hall. He was now in his fourth Chancellorship, — the first
having been under George IV. ; the second under William
lY., from the accession of that monarch till the formation of
Lord Grey's Government, in November, 183Q ; the third
again under William IV., during the hundred days from
134 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAP. November, 1834, to April, 1835 ; and, lastly, under Queen
' Victoria, of whose conscience lie was the keeper for five
A.D. 1841- years. No Chancellor had received the Great Seal so often
^^^^' from different sovereigns since the Plantagenet reigns.
In the Court of Chancery he was now exposed to a very
disagreeable comparison ; for Lord Cottenham, his immediate
predecessor, although very inferior to him in grasp of intel-
lect and general acquirements, was a consummate Equity
Judge ; and had given entire satisfaction to the Bar and the
suitors in the Court of Cliancery.
Some supposed that Lord Lyndhurst would now show him-
self (as he might have done) one of the greatest of Chancellors.
Between five and six years he had enjoyed entire leisure, and
as during the whole of that period he seemed to be in the
near prospect of resuming his high office, and eager again to
possess it, those who were not well acquainted with his habits
conjectured that he was preparing himself for its duties, with
which, when he before held it, he had been of necessity imper-
fectly acquainted. But, in truth, he had been absorbed in
political intrigue. He hardly ever attended to the judicial
business of the House of Lords ; with one exception, he never
sat in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and he
did not trouble himself with reading the periodical reports of
the decisions of any of the Equity Judges.*
Lyndhurst No improvement was discoverable. He took no bribes,
talis qualis. , , . ^ , , . ,• •
and he never was mtluenced by any improper motive in
deciding for one party rather than the other — further than
taking the course which was likely to give himself least trouble,
and which least exposed him to unpleasant criticism. His
excellent good sense and admirable tact kept him out of
scrapes. Avoiding danger, he was careless about glory ; and
* The instance in whicli he did sit in the Privy Council was an appeal
from the Ai-ches on the will of Jemmy Wood, the banker at Gloucester, a case
involving property to an immense amount, and attended with very great diffi-
culty. I was counsel for the appellant, and I thought Lyndhurst a Daniel ; for
the Court, by his advice, decided for my client. But such was Lyndhurst's
disinclination to judicial work, that I could not prevail upon bun to attend
the hearing of the appeal in the House of Lords on which the disruption of
the Church of Scotland depended; and this was disposed of exclusively
by two peers, L'ord Brougham and Lord Cottenham. His presence might have
saved a great national calamity.
LIFE OF LOKD LYNDHUEST. 135
not by any means over-anxious or scrupulous about the busi- CHAP,
ness of bis Court being disposed of satisfactorily. He sat
his deci-
sions.
in the Court of Chancery as little as he possibly could, and a.d. i84i-
his great object was to shirk the decision of perplexed and ^^^"^^
difficult questions. Upon appeals from the Master of the
Eolls and the Vice Chancellors, he almost always affirmed ;
bv which he had the treble advantaoe of lessenins; the number
of appeals, of having the good word of the Judge appealed
from, and of shunning the necessity for giving reasoned
judgments.*
It is quite marvellous to find how few and how unim- Paucity of
portant are Lyndhurst's recorded decisions in his last quin-
quennium. They are all comprised in a portion of the first
volume of Phillips's Reports, f hardly exceeding in number,
and certainly not in weight, the decisions of the Court of
Queen's Bench in a single term.
After looking over all the Chancery cases Temjpore Lynd-
hurst, the following is the only one I can discover likely
to be interesting to the general reader, — " Viscount Canterbury
V. the Attorney-General," which was commenced when I had
the honour to be first law officer of the Crown.
On the 1 6th of October, 1834, the two Houses of Parlia- Speai^e
ment were burnt down, with the Speaker's Tiouse and adjoining
buildings, constituting the ancient Royal Palace of West-
minster. J The conflagration was occasioned by the negligence
of workmen in the employment of the Commissioners of
Woods and Forests, who had made a bonfire of an immense
* Lord Lyndliurst's propensity to affirm was the more striking from Lord
Cottenliam's propensity to reverse. This distinguished Judge did not even
acknowledge that tliere is a presumption in favour of the decree appealed
against, and that it ought to stand till the api3ellate Judge is convinced tliat it
was wrong. He treated every appeal as an original hearing, being governed
by the smallest inclination in his own mind in fiivour of the appellant's side.
This was his avowed principle ; but tlie wags in the Court of Ciiancery went so
far as to say that he always presumed the decree to be wrong till the contrary
was clearly proved, the odds being two to one against Vice Chancellor Shad-
well, and tliree to one against Vice Chancellor Knight Bruce.
t From p. 50 to p. 778.
i The apartments called "The Speaker's House" were first appropriated
to the use of the Speaker in the year 17'J0, by warrant of George HI.,
and George IV. at the time of his coronation occupied them for two days
as part of tlie palace. The crypt of the ancient chapel of St. Stephen, till
the fire, had been used as the Speaker's dining-room.
Sutton's
case.
136 REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, quantity of "wooden tallies,"— implements by which the
^^^' accounts of the Exchequer had been kept, as in the reign
A.D. 1841- of Edward the Confessor. The Eight Hon. Charles Manners
1^^^- Sutton (afterwards created Viscount Canterbury) was then
Speaker of the House of Commons, and this fire destroyed
his furniture and plate of the value of 7000?., and damaged
other property of his to the amount of 3000/. He took no
steps with a view to obtain compensation during the reign
of William IV. ; but in the year 1840 he presented a Petition
of Eight addressed to her Majesty Queen Victoria, setting
forth the above facts, and alleging that as this loss had arisen
in a royal palace, from the negligence of the servants of the
Crown, the petitioner, as of right, was entitled to compensa-
tion from the Crown.
The Queen gave the answer "Let Right he done," and
referred the case to her Lord Chancellor. The allegations
of fact in the petition being substantially true, but affording
no foundation in point of law for the claim, the Attorney
General confessed the truth of them, and "demurred."
After I was out of office, the case was very learnedly argued
before Lord Lyndhurst — on one side by my successor. Sir
Frederick Pollock, now Chief Baron of the Exchequer ; and
on the other side by Serjeant Wilde, afterwards Lord Chan-
cellor Truro.
Lord Lyndhurst, having taken time to consider, delivered
a very learned and excellent written judgment. He began
with considering the true construction of the statute of Anne
respecting liability for the consequences of accidental fire,
as between subject and subject. He then proceeded to con-
sider how far the claim could be supported against the
Crown : — ■
"It is admitted that for the personal negligence of the
Sovereign neither this nor any other proceeding can he main-
tained. Upon what ground, then, can it be supported for the acts
of the agent or servant? If the master or employer is an-
swerable upon the principle qui facit per alium facit per se, this
would not apply to the Sovereign, wlio cannot be required to
answer f. • -r> ^ • t • ^
and "takes it would uot DC saio to givc Jorougham any judicial promo-
^'w^^t*!! ^^^^ which should not entirely remove him from politics,
bar accord- Howcvcr, the King's scruples were overcome as to his having
^^°^' a silk gown, although Lord Eldon had often declared that
they were insurmountable. He received a patent of prece-
dence, which gave him the same rank as if he had been a
King's Counsel ; and, once more rustling in silk, " he took
his place within the bar accordingly." No step in his career
of advancement probably ever gave him so much pleasure,
considering the difficulty with which he had obtained it, and
that at last he owed it to a great political move, of which he
truly said that he was pars magna. He delighted much in
the new and prominent role he now acted as " Protector of
the Fusion." He complained to me, but with evident com-
placency, of the trouble he had in answering the innumerable
applications poured in upon him for favours from the Govern-
ment, which it was supposed that his interest could command.
All his correspondents, he said, concluded with these words,
" You have only to say the word, and the thing is done."
He assured me that at last he found it necessary to have a
lithographed form of answer, leaving blanks for name and
' goms
over.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 351
oflSce, asseveratinf^ that " lie had no influence whatever with CHAP.
. TV
the present IMinisters, although he wished them well, and '
that he could not, with any propriety or hope of success, ask a.d. i8-27.
any favour from them."
Being attacked in the House of Commons for "going
over," he boldly asserted that in now supporting Mr. Canning ^^^ ^®*-
he acted with perfect consistency ; and he tried to prove to MelS^H!'^
an astonished audience that for years past he had entirely himself for
concurred m the sentiments expressed by this " liberal states-
man." Thus, in ironical strain, he attempted to show that
on all great questions of policy there had been entire har-
mony between them : —
" Because I support this Government, though I g'o no further,
I am to be charged with having acceded to an unnatural coalition.
I am to be told there has been a monstrous and unnatural alliance
formed between the right honourable gentleman below me and
those friends with whom I have had, and still have, the happi-
ness and honour of acting. An unnatural alliance — because there
are points of difference which should have eternally forbade the
junction ! an unnatural alliance — because we have differed, and
particularly' of late years, on the most material questions of in-
ternal and foreign policy ; an unnatural alliance — because, since
the death of Lord Londondeny, we have been striving to rivet
fast to the chariot-wheel of the Holy Alliance the triumphant
fortunes of Great Britain ; an unnatural coalition — because we
have been amongst those who have been the staunchest friends to
the liberal system of commercial policy adopted by that Ministry ;
because, amongst others, I myself have been the constant sup-
porter of those free doctrines in trade which were afterwards
received, sanctioned, and carried into practice, by men more en-
lightened and of far more political weight than myself! An
unnatiiral coalition, undoubtedly, because we have constantly
differed from the right honourable gentleman, as to the internal
policy of the empire ; because we, forsooth, have ever disputed
with him, as to that great corner-stone, the mode fitting to be
adopted for the government of the sister kingdom of Ireland.
Look over all the great political questions that divide some men
and approximate others at the present day. Travel with your
eyes over the affairs of Europe, or even across the Atlantic, and
see the dawn of liberty in South America, where millions are
blessing the grateful light, while the hearts of millions in this
country are beating in unison with theirs, yet rejoicing in their
A.D. 1827.
352 EEIGN OF GEOEGE IV.
CHAP, new-born freedom. Whether we look, I say, to the east or the
west, to America or to Europe, to our domestic policy, or ques-
tions of trade, or improvement of our mercantile system, or to
the agricultural interests of the countiy, — surveying all those
great questions which divide men in their opinions, and animate
conflicting parties and rival statesmen, I can conscientiously de-
clare that, passing them all in review, I cannot discover one
single tenet or sentiment, nay, one solitary feeling, which, prac-
tically speaking, has influenced the councils of his Majesty's
Government during the last three or f(jur years, and which did
not find in my opinion a firm support, and in my feelings a faith-
ful echo."
A few days after, he was again attacked with more bitter-
ness, and accused of Laving, from selfish motives, deserted
the cause of Catholic Emancipation. He again defended
his consistency, and added : —
" As it is the custom to talk of sacrifices, I may mention mine.
I have quitted a situation in this House which, considering the
influence of opinion and feeling, was in ihe highest degree grate-
ful to me ; and in which I was surrounded and (if it may be
permitted me to say so) supported by one of the largest, most
important, the most honourable, and — now I may say it, for I
was privy to all their councils, and my motives cannot be sus-
pected — the most disinterested Opposition that ever sat within
the walls of this House, men who supported what they deemed
right, though it kept them out of power, and confii-med their
adversaries in office ; and who persevered in that course year
after year, without a possible hope of benefit ever accruing to
themselves. I have quitted that honourable and eminent situa-
tion, enough to gratify the ambition of the proudest of men, on
an express stipulation which utterly excludes the possibility of
my taking office. I have done so deliberately and advisedly. I
shall be sufiiciently gratified in watching the progress of those
opinions to which I am attached, both as to our foreign and
domestic policy ; including with the rest the Irish question, but
not giving it a prominence which would render it exclusive, and
impede its success by making it rmpopular in this country, by
arousing the religious jealous}- of the people. The right honour-
able gentleman has successfully established a system of liberal
foreign policy. Upon these grounds I gave him my best assist-
ance. Guided by these principles, and founding his measures on
such grounds, in the course of his administration the right
honourable gentleman shall have from me that which he has
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 353
a right, in point of consistency to demand, a cordial, zealous, and CHAP.
disinterested support."
With Brougham's support, and his own brilliant eloquence, a.d. 1827.
Canning got on pretty well in the House of Commons ; but Coalition
in the Lords he was " done to death." There a most forniid- ntn*i.^'^
but had not been completed. I believe that, although he saw
an immense crowd below the bar, on the steps of' the throne,
and in the galleries, who had come to see him inaugurated,
he regretted, for a time at least, the elevation he had
reached; for an animated discussion immediately arose in
the House respecting the formation of the new ministry
and parliamentary reform, in which he was pointedly alluded
to ; and, as yet having no riglit to open his mouth in the
assembly, unless to put the question, he was condemned
to silence, and by the impatience he manifested he seemed
to signify that he could have vindicated himself and his col-
leagues much better than Lord Grey or Lord Lansdowne had
done.
Next morning, without yet having been sworn in or installed
in the Court of Chancery, he took his place on the woolsack
to hear a Scotch appeal. The counsel were surprised to find
that, according to a form which had been long disused, they
were compelled by the Yeoman Usher of the Black Kod to
make three congees as they were marched up to the bar, when
the Chancellor, who had been covered, took off his cocked hat
with much solemnity, and signalled to them to begin. Not-
withstanding the contempt which he expressed for the " trap-
pings of his office," he was by no means without a taste for
.376
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1830.
He 1 ecomes
Bai on
Brougham
and Vaus.
Tiiesdav,
23rd JS'ov.
scenic representation, when lie had to play the principal
character.
The appeal heard was Grieve v. Wilson, respecting the right
of lujpothec of Scotch landlords on the produce of the located
land. He laughed a good deal at this law, and said that it
must immediately be altered, as the doctrines "ventilated"
in the appeal would, if known, excite great alarm in Mark
Lane. He was very pleasant and jocose, but his humour was
more agreeable to the bystanders than to the objects of it — the
Lord Ordinary and the Lord Justice Clerk Boyle, the latter
of whom was said to have made a grave remonstrance against
the ridicule cast upon him.
But the same day there was much laughing at the expense
of the Lord Chancellor himself, when it was announced that
his patent of nobility was completed, and that he was now a
Baron, by the title of " Lord Brougham and Vaux." To some
private friends he had formerly stated in confidence that he
was entitled to a Barony of Vaux by descent through the female
line, but no one imagined that he would do so unusual a thing
as to atld this word to a new created peerage; for all the
instances (such as Hamilton and Brandon, Buccleuch and
Queensberry, Leven and Melville, Say and Sole, or Dudley
and AVard) of the copulative being so used are where two
titles of the same grade, having been separately created,
are united by descent in one individual. Among the in-
numerable jokes against this new title, the most cutting,
if not the best, was that " Henry Brougham had destroyed
himself, and was now Vaux et jprseterea nihiV To meet
these jokes, and to show how little he cared about titles, he
has always, with real or affected humility, refused to sign
his name as peers usually do, but signs H. Brougham, or
more commonly H. B.*
The following is the entry in the journals of his taking his
seat as a peer : —
* In former times English peers used always to sign their christian name
as -well as name of dignity, merely substituting this for their surname ; but if
Brougham was aware of the old fashion, I believe that he had no thought of
reviving it, and was only desirous of doing something out of the common
course.
A.D. 1830.
LIFE OF LOKD BKOUGHAM. 377
" The Duke of Gloucester informed their Lordships that his CHAP.
Majesty had been pleased to elevate Henry Brougham, Esq., Lord ^ "
Chancellor of Great Britain, to the dignity of a peer of the realm
hy the title of Baron Brougha:vi and Vaux. The Lord Chancellor, „ .
on hearing this intimation, quitted the Woolsack, and left the a peer.
House to robe. He speedily returned, and was introduced as a
Baron by the Marquess Wellesley and Lord Durham. His Lord-
ship took the oaths, resumed his seat on the woolsack, and re-
ceived the congratulations of his friends." *
-'o'^
The same day he laid on the table, in a very strange and His claim of
irreofular manner, a copy of a j^etition he had presented to barony.
the CrowTi, claiming a right to be summoned to Parliament
as representative of an ancient barony of Vaux, which he
alleged had descended upon him through the female line.
The House had no jurisdiction to take cognizance of such
a claim, except on a reference by the Crown, and such a
reference is only made upon the report of the Attorney
General that a prima facie case is made out by the claimant.
Brougham never ventured to take any step to substantiate
his claim, and it must be considered a mere dream or fiction.
He uttered nothing on this occasion, and, to the astonish-
ment of all present, the House rose without the sound of his
voice being heard, except in putting the question, " That this
House do now adjourn."
On this very day on which he took his seat as a peer, a Attack upon
motion being made in the House of Commons for the issuing jjousp ^f'
of a writ to elect a new member in his stead, he was t;o'n«»ons.
violently assailed by Mr. Croker, who, recapitulating the
protestations he had made there and elsewhere against
accepting any place in the new Government, and his repeated
vows never to exchange the representation of Yorkshire for
any honours which the Crown could confer, called for —
" an explanation of his having suddenly vacated his seat in that
House by becoming Lord High Chancellor and Baron Brougham
and Vaux ; which either showed a successful grasping at office
* On inspecting the Journal I find : — " Friday, 19th Novcmher, Ds. Lynd-
hurst, Cancellarius ; Monday, 22nd November, Uenricus Brougham, Cancel-
larius ; Tuesday, 23rd November, Ds. Brougham and Vaux, Cancellariua.
A.D. 1830.
)78 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, by false pretences, or a sudden change of purpose unexplained
and inexplicable."
" 3Ir. Buncombe deeply lamented the time and the circum-
stances in which that distinguished person had allowed him-
self to be seduced from the commanding eminence which he
occupied in that House. This was the place in which his
transcendant abilities were wanted. The noble and learned
Lord had often told them of ' another place from which they
had little to expect,' and yet he had gone to that place —
never to return. If he had remained member for Yorkshire
until he had redeemed his pledges and fulfilled his promises
by carrying his important measures respecting negro slavery
and parliamentaiy reform, he might have giacefully retired to
elsewhere. His appointment would then have been hailed with
the acclamations of his friends ; whereas it is now only satis-
factory to those who hate him, and take a malignant pleasure in
seeing his fair fame for ever tarnished."
Defence of " Sir James MacMntosh pointed out the unfairness of such attacks,
him bv when, thouoh unfounded, they could not be repelled without dis-
and Mucau- closures which could not possibly be then made,
lay- " Mr. Macaulay. — I owe the noble and learned Lord no poli-
tical allegiance, but as a member of this House I cannot banish
fi'ora my memory the extraordinary eloquence with which he
has made these walls resound — an eloquence which, being gone,
has left nothing equal to it behind ; and when I behold the
depaiture of that great man from amongst us, and when I see
the place in which he usually sat, and from which he has so
often astonished us by the mighty powers of his mind, occupied
so very differently this evening by the honourable member
who commenced this assault, I cannot express the emotions
to which such a contrast gives rise. An opponent who would
sooner have buint his tongue than used such language in his
presence, now thinks he may rail at him with impunity ! "
The defence was interrupted by a cry of Order, and after
explanations and apologies, the vote passed for issuing the
writ.*
* 1 Haiisard, N. S. 649. When Macaulay first came forward Brougham
professed to patronise him; but as the client's fame flomished the patron's
jealousy was excited, and gradually an unfriendly feeling grew up between
them, till at lart Macaulay spoke of Brougham as "a turbid rhetorician," and
Brougham designated Macaulay "a tolerably good writer of romances."
Brougham thought that nothing had appeared dui-ing the i^resent generation
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. ' 379
The new Lord Chancellor, after deliberatinsf for three CHAP.
days whether he should take any public notice of the attack,
asked Lord Grosvenor, when presenting a petition in favour a.d. 1830,
of parliamentary reform, to allude to what had lately passed
in the House of Commons. Accordingly the noble Earl said
that —
" Seeing his noble and learned friend on the woolsack, after
having been so long the ornament of the other House, and now
likely to be the ornament of this, he was anxious to give him an
opportunity — if he chose to avail himself of it — of correcting
some misrepresentations and replying to some charges made
against him in another place."
" Lord Chancellor. — ' My Lords, I am obliged to my noble His maiden
friend for the opportunity he has afforded me of stating my th^^fj^u^g
opinions upon the subject of his petition, but many oppor- of Lords,
tunities will soon occur when I may do so with more regu-
larity. That my opinions may be already known to your Lord-
ships in common with the great mass of my fellow citizens is
not improbable, and I hope may not be to my disadvantage.
It is painfid to me, and the more so from the unexpected appeal
of my noble friend, that now when for the first time I have
the honour of addressing your Lordships, I should be called
upon to speak of a subject in every way of such inferior im-
portance as myself. Nevertheless, as misrepresentations have
gone abroad, and remarks of an unfriendly nature touching the
consistency of my public conduct have been uttered elsewhere,
should I now shrink — or rather let me say, should 1 decline
offering a few words in deference to your Lordships, and I may
add, out of respect to myself, — after the call which has been made
on me, it might wear the appearance of shrinking from attack.
It will be sufficient, however, to say very briefly, that I bear,
and shall continue to beai-, with perfect equality of mind, every-
thing that may be said of me in any quai ter whatsoever ; that
I am not at all surprised, but the contrary, that a person
respectable for his knowledge and talent (meaning Crokor*),
deserving the name of hiistory, except his own ' History of the House of Lan-
caster.'
* At this time there was enmity between Brouj;;liam and Crolcer which
seemed imi)lacable; but when Brougham, as a discarded ox-L'lianccllor, was
as-ailing the Whig Government, they became fast friends, and warmly com-
plimented each other both in public and private.
380 REIGN OP WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, has been led into errors concerning me, from ignorance of my
character ; and tliat I bear, with an equal mind, what has been
. ,. 100A said by that individual under the influence of mistake. lam
A.T>. looO. -^ ,
not astonished at the observations which have been made by
persons in another place expressing their astonishment at my
Brougham's present position; they cannot feel greater astonishment than I
°!^" "^*°"" myself do at my consenting to my elevation to the distinguished
finding him- place which I now hold in his Majesty's councils. I share their
self Chan- astonishment, for they cannot be more stricken with wonder
than I am, that at this late period, at this eleventh hour, I
should have overcome my repugnance to resign mj high station
as representative for Yorkshire. Up to that time when I am
reported to have stated my intention of not severing myself from
the representation of Yorkshire, I no more contemplated the
j)ossibility of my being prevailed upon to quit the station I held
for that which I now hold, than I at the present moment fancy
I shall ever go back to that House from which the favour of his
Majesty has raised me.* I need not add, that in changing my
station in Parliament, the principles which have ever guided
me remain unchanged. When I accepted the high office to
which I have been called, I did so in the full and perfect con-
viction that far from disabling me to discharge my duty to my
country — far from rendering my services less efficient, it would
but enlarge the sphere of my utility. The thing which dazzled
me most in the prospect opening to my view was not the gewgaw
splendour of the place, but that it seemed to afford me, if I were
honest — on which I could rely ; if I were consistent — which I
knew to be matter of absolute necessity in my nature ; if I were
as able as I was honest and consistent — a field of more extended
exertion. That by which the Great Seal did dazzle my eyes, and
induced me to quit a station which till this time I deemed the
most proud an Englishman could enjoy, was that it seemed to
hold out to me the gratifying prospect that in serving my King
I should be better able to serve my country.' " f
His fitness " The lady protests too much, methinks." Although bom
in Scotland, he had not been endowed with the " second
* It is a curious fact, wMle almost all the members of the House of Peers
are in the habit of going into the Peers' gallery in the House of Commons,
Brougham, whether imder a vow or from want of cmiosity, has never bodily
been under the roof of the House of Commons since he ceased to be a member
of it.
t 1 Hansard, 674.
for the office,
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 381
sight," or, coming events casting tlieir shadows before, he CHAr.
might have seen visions of himself in battle array against '
his former associates and his former principles. His accept- a.d. 1830.
ance of the Great Seal, if fairly offered to him, required no
justification, and by excusing he accused himself. Regard
being had to the various functions of the office of Chancellor,
he was, upon the whole, by no means unqualified for it. His
acquaintance with the practice of the Equity Courts was
necessarily slender ; but he was well imbued with a general
knowledge of jurisprudence, and conscious of his unrivalled
industry and energy, he might well hope to perform in this
dej^artment better than if he had been reared as a mere " con-
veyancer and equity draughtsman." To carry into effect his
great plan for reforming our jurisprudence, his position as
Lord Chancellor would give him influence which he could
not possess in any other ; and he might, at the same time,
still j^romote the cause of education, the effectual suppression
of the slave trade, and all other sucli salutary measures, more
effectually than if he had remained in the House of Commons,
the representative of Yorkshire. Therefore for tlie simple
fact of his being in possession of the Great Seal, I do not
see that any apology was required. Others were astonished
merely because he had so peremptorily and solemnly declared,
while the new Government was in the process of formation,
that he would take no office whatever under Lord Grey —
at the same time showing strong symptoms of disappointment
and irritation. Whence his own astonishment arose it is
more difficult to conjecture. Burke, in his treatise, 'On
the Sublime and Beautiful,' says — " Astonishment is tliat
state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, witli
some degree of horror." Why should this state of Lord
Brougham's soul have been produced by the Whig leaders
offering him the only office which he would accept, knowing
that he could not be left out without imminent peril to their
stability, or by his accepting an office which he desired, and
in which he reasonably thought that he might usefully serve
his country ?
Being indifferent as to the pecuniary emoluments of this
382 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CRAP, office, he was miicli pleased with the immense patronage
which belonged to it — partly from the pleasure which he sin-
A.D. 1830. cerely felt in being able disinterestedly to oblige a friend, but
partly also, perhaps, from considering what a high price he
could now pay for praise, and how lavishly it would be be-
His high stowed upou him. At the same time, I believe, that he did
aspirations, form Very high and noble designs — overrating, I fear, his
powers of performance. Of the ancients, his great model
was Cicero, whom he hoped to rival as an orator and a fine
writer. Of the moderns, he thought Lord Bacon's fame
was most to be envied, and there was no department of
genius in which he did not hope that he might fairly enter
into competition with this " brightest of mankind." As
a judge he boldly and openly said he should excel him,
intending that the decisions "Tempore Brougham," should
be received with as much reverence as Lord Hardwicke's ;
and in philosophy he had treatises part begun, and part
conceived in his own mind, ^Ahicll would excel the Novum
Organum*
It was not till Thursday, the 25th of November, that he was
regularly installed in the Court of Chancery and sworn,-^
*'the Master of the Eolls holding the book." He wished to
make this ceremony as imposing as possible, and it was
deferred that he might have as much of royalty and nobility
about him as he could muster. He was attended by three
royal highnesses, the Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Gloucester,
and Prince Leopold, and by various noblemen, of whom the
Duke of Devonshire was highest in rank. It was thought
that after the fashion of Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas More,
Lord Bacon, and the old Chancellors, he would, on beino-
placed in the " marble chair " have delivered an oration upon
the duties of Chancellor, and the manner in which he pro-
posed to perform them ; but he followed the more modern
precedent, by bowing out the grandees who attended him
as soon as the oath was recorded on the motion of the
Attorney General, and then proceeding with the common
business of the Court.
* Some of these he afterwards gave to the world.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 383
The new Ministers were to stand or fall by their promised CHAP,
bill for parliamentary reform, and at the first Cabinet which '
they held after their installation the subject was discussed, a.d. is.w.
The Chancellor proposed that his bill, which he was so impa- Concoction
tient to introduce on the memorable 16th of November, form Bill,
(when he declared that no change in the construction of the
ministry could possibly affect him), should be adopted as the
basis of the government measure, but his explanation of it
and the answers to a few questions put to him, showed his
sclieme to be so defective and so crude that reference to
it could only perplex and mislead. It contained some
startling clauses for lowering and extending the franchise
beyond what was considered prudent, but hardly any dis-
franchisement, all the nomination borouglis being allowed to
retain at least one member.* I know not wliether at this time
he favoured the doctrine that the privilege of sending members
to Parliament, once granted to a place, could not be taken
away constitutionally, except on clear proof of corruption ; or
thought tliat the small boroughs should be protected for the
good service they had rendered to the Liberal side ever since
the revolution of 1688 ; or felt that having himself sat in
the House of Coinmons as the representative of a peer, till he
had very recently been elected for Yorkshire, it would have
been very ungracious to prevent others from entering the
House of Commons by the same honourable means— but
he has always shown a rooted antipathy to disfranchisement,
* Mr. Roebuck asserts, in his ' History of the "WTiig Aflministration,' that
on the J 8th of November Brougham called a meeting of liis House of Com-
mons friends, and fully explained to them his measure — of which eight heads
are given— making it very like Lord Grey's Bill. This statement I can nio.st
positively contradict. I was tlien one of Bi'ougham's "House of Coniinons
friends," and had sent in my adhesion to him as far as parliamentary reform
was concerned, when he gave his notice at the commencement of tlie He.ssion ;
and I am certain that he never called any sucli meeting of fiiend.'^ as is liero
supposed and that he never explained to me or to any of them the particulars
of his plan ; on the contrary, he said he wi.shed it to remain secret till ho
detailed it in the House of Commons. On tlie J8tii of November, he was
entirely absorbed in the negotiation about the Great Seal, and so remained
till he had obtained it. Botli then, and during discussions wlii h followed,
Brougham's most intimate friends not in the Cabinet professed eutii'C ignorance
of the proposed enactments of his bill.
384 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, and he subsequently threw out in the Lords bills passed hj
the Commons to disfranchise Staiford, Warwick, and Sudbury,
A.D. 1830. for corruption very clearly proved.
Lord Durham, the member of the Cabinet most eager for
a thorough reform, and particularly zealous against the rotten
boroughs, was much alarmed by the views which the Chan-
cellor disclosed, and suggested that the subject should be
referred to a committee of the Cabinet. This being agreed to,
he contrived that the Chancellor, on account of his multiplied
engagements, should be excused from serving upon it. The
members selected, who really acted, were Lord Althorp,
Lord Durham, and Sir James Graham ; Lord John Kussell,
although not then of the Cabinet, being associated with them.
Brougham did not trouble himself further with the subject
till the Committee, in the beginning of the new year, made
their report, accompanying a draught of their proposed
bill. On account of the importance and difficulty of the
measure Ministers claimed ample time to prepare it, and both
Houses stood adjourned from the 23rd of December to the
3rd of February following.
The Chan- Before the adjournment Brougham made no further demon-
atleni '^f 'at ^^^''^^i^^ i^ t^® Houso of Lords, and confined himself to laying
legislation, two bills on the table, one to take away the lien or liij])othec
which landlords have in Scotland on the produce of the
land for the payment of rent, and the other for the estab-
lishment of local courts to try small causes in England.
The first turned out an inauspicious failure — for it raised
such a tempest of oiDposition that the author was obliged to
withdraw it before it had been read a second time. The
other would have passed if the friendly feeling towards the
Government still entertained by Lord Lyndhurst, now become
lyndhnrst Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, had continued. This
Baionof the judicial appointment was a contrivance of the Lord Chancellor,
Exchequer. yf\^Q entertained the vain hope that Lyndhurst, in considera-
tion of this sop would steadily support the Whig Government.
The Premier declared this to be a masterly move, and as soon
as Chief Baron Alexander could be prevailed upon to resign,
the arrangement was completed. Lyndhurst had cautiously
LIFE OF LORD BEOTJGHAM. 385
avoided giving any pledge, or making use of any expression CHAP,
which could be quoted as even a faint promise to adhere to '
the Whigs. Lord Grey, however, had asked him to carry a.d, 1830.
the Kegency Bill through the Lords after the change of
Government, and there seemed a very friendly understanding
between them. But the new Chief Baron having been sworn
in on the 18th of January, he immediately after gave the most
unequivocal signs of a determination to lead the Opposition
in the House of Lords, and as soon as possible to storm the
Treasury Bench.
The Chancellor, when adjourning his court on 24t]i
December for the Christmas holidays, delivered a short
address to the bar, in which he indulged pretty freely in
self-laudation while reviewing his exploits since he had pre-
sided there — and I must say, very excusably, although it might
have been better if the task had been left to others. How-
ever new to the situation and to the business in hand, he
had, upon the whole, disposed very reputably of most of the
cases which came before him ; and, notwithstanding some
few mistakes and eccentricities which caused momentary
mirth, he commanded the respect of the bar and of the
public. It might have been feared that his judicial per-
formance might resemble Jean Jacques Rousseau's musical
performance in the concert given by that wonderful man
before he had been initiated in the rudiments of music ;
but, on the contrary. Brougham's natural genius, assisted by
slender cultivation, carried him through with eclat. He was
by no means timid in offering an opinion upon points which
were quite strange to him ; and when he found, by observing
the faces of those who were listening, that he was quite
Avrong, instead of being abashed and submitting to any con-
tinued triumph over him, he rallied in a most marvellous
manner, and jDreserved his ascendancy after misadventures
which would have ruined seven ordinary mortals. His habit
which caused him the greatest peril was writing letters while
he was sitting on the bench and supposed to be listening to
arguments from the bar. He did not resort to the art of the
wily Eldon, who, when writing letters in court to his private
VOL. VIII. 2 c
]S6 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, friends, folded the paper as if he had been taking notes of
' the argument. Lord Chancellor Brougham, above all dis-
A.D. 1831. guise, many times in th6 course of a morning would openly
receive letters on the bench, read them, and write, seal and
despatch answers, meanwhile listening to the counsel and
asking them questions.
This habit was particularly distasteful to that very petu-
lant, though very learned and able counsel. Sir Edward
Sugden (now Lord St. Leonards), who tried to correct it,
but was unlucky in the occasion which he took and the
method he employed for that purpose. As the most marked
and eifectual intimation of his displeasure, he suddenly
stopped in the middle of a sentence while the Chancellor
was writing. After a considerable pause the Chancellor,
without raising his eyes from the paper, said, " Go on, Sir
Edward ; I am listening to you." Sugden. — " I observe that
your Lordship is engaged in writing, and not favouring me
with your attention." Chancellor. — " I am signing papers of
mere form. You may as well say that I am not to blow my
nose or take snuff while you speak." Sir Edward sat down
in a huff; but on this occasion he was laughed at, and the
Chancellor was applauded.
The court being adjourned, Brougham, like a pious son
(as he ever showed himself), took a journey to Brougham
Hall, to visit his venerable mother, and, kneeling before
her, to ask her blessing on a Lord Chancellor. The good old
lady still preserved her fine faculties quite entire ; but, while
she reciprocated her boy's affection for her, and was proud of
his abilities and the distinction he had acquired, she said
with excellent good sense and feeling, " My dear Harry, I
would rather have embraced the member for Yorkshire ; but
God Almighty bless you ! "
Chancery When Parliament re-assembled, the Chancellor brought
forward his scheme for reforming the Court of Chancery,
thus humorously apologising for not taking fmiher time to
matui'e it : —
" I, who have little or no experience, whose knowledge of the
practice of the Court must necessarily be limited — I, a mere
A.D. 1831.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 387
novice in the law of that Court, nevertheless begin with attempt- CHAP,
ing what others, to the veiy close of their career, have not ^ '
attempted — a change, an innovation ; and to sum np all in one
expression so hateful, so alien to long-established habits, so sore,
so agonising to the experienced practitioner, — in one hateful
word, the head and front of my offending — a Chancery Eefokm.
Eeform. odious and reprobated in all places, is especially odious and
especially reprobated there, when it appears as it were a monster,
composed of two parts so utterly irreconcileable and incon-
gruous as Chancery and Eeforji. Short as my experience has
been in that Court, I almost already begin to feel those diffi-
culties and those incumbrances which have ovei-powered and
mastered the good intentions of all my illustrious predecessors.
I feel afraid that I am already, as it were, becoming attached to
the soil ; I am alread}'- in the course of seduction ; I am getting
involved in the integuments and entanglements which I have
been describing as forming the excuse of those who succumbed.
I, who came into the Court pouring out prayers for reform, am
almost already incapacitated for attempting it.
' Vix prece finita, torpor gravis alligat artus,
Mollia cinguntnr tenui prsecordia libro :
In frondem crines, iu ramos brachia crescunt ;
Pes, modo tarn velox pigris radicibus hseret,
Ora cacumen obit ; remanet nitor unus in ilia.'
" I feel that I am on the point, if I delay but an instant, of
fleeing altogether from the day, of becoming fixed and rooted in
the gi-ound ; and that I shall flourish only like the laurel in the
fQ,ble, a monument of her escape from the embraces of the God of
Light." *
He then went on, at very great length, to propose the
abolition of a vast number of sinecures in the Court of
Chancery, and various improvements in its procedure ; but he
did not touch the radical grievance — the system of Masters
in Chancery, to whom every cause was referred after any
point iu it bad been decided by the Equity Judge, with a
power of appealing to him again and again upon every ques-
tion of law or fact which the jMaster had decided ; so that
the cause used to go to sleep for years in the Master's office,
and the suitors being kept oscillating between the Master
and the Equity Judge by a sort oi ])erpetuum mobile, no suit
* 2 Hansard, 850.
2 c 2
388 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, 'v^as ever terminated. But the time for such a clianofe had
V.
not yet arrived. Although the abolition of the Masters in
A.D. 1831. Chancery was carried in little more than twenty years after,
such a purpose at this time would have been considered as
preposterous as a bill to abolish the satellites of Jupiter.
Reform Bill The attention of both Houses of Parliament and of the
nation was soon entirely absorbed by the question of Parlia-
mentary Reform. The Committee of the Cabinet had re-
commended a very sweeping scheme, entirely disfranchising
a large number of boroughs, limiting the right of a great
many others to one representative, creating a considerable
number of new constituencies, extending the right of voting
to copyholders and leaseholders in counties and to all house-
holders in boroughs paying 15?. a year rent, and introducing
vote by ballot. The Chancellor was rather shocked to find
the projected measure going so far beyond that which he
himself had contemplated ; but, to avoid disunion, he con-
sented to adopt the whole, except vote by ballot, to which
he expressed an insuperable antipathy. Upon this point he
was su]3ported by Lord Grey and several other members of
the Cabinet. Lord Durham and Sir James Graham long
held out for the ballot, alleging that without it the measure
would give no satisfaction. At last a compromise was en-
tered into : the ballot was given up, and, by way of com-
pensation, the town franchise was to be reduced from 1^1.
to 10?., wherebv several hundred thousand more voters
would be created. The bill so framed the Chancellor agreed
to, and very gallantly and with perfect good faith supported,
although he several times in debate hinted that it was not
entirely to his mind, that it was rather too sweeping, and that
if its principle were adopted its details might be materially
modified.
The bill being launched in the House of Commons, while
it was proceeding there almost daily discussions took place
upon it in the House of Lords, brought on. by the presenta-
tion of petitions. In these the Chancellor bore the principal
part, attacking with much violence the anti-reforming Lords.
He was particularly sarcastic upon the poor Marquis of Lon-
LIFE OF LOED BEOUGHAM. 389
dondeny, who had exposed himself by several unfortunate chap.
mistakes in his references to history. "
The victimised peer now sought revenge by bringing a.d. issi.
before the House a matter which had made a great noise The King's
in the clubs and in the newspapers. The Lord Chancellor, tj^uie loS*^
attended by his officers, driving in his coach from the ^'haiicelior.
Court of Chancery at Westminster to assist at the Queen's
DraNviug-room, when he reached the Horse Guards and
wished to pass into St. James's Park, was stopped by the
military stationed there, and told that orders had been given
by the King to allow no carriage to be admitted, except that
of the Speaker of the House of Commons. Nevertheless, the
Chancellor's coachman whipped his horses and the carriage
passed through, the military giving way on both sides.
A few days after, the Marquis of Londonderry, in pur-
suance of a notice he had given, rose to put certain questions
on the subject to the Commander-in-Chief. He said : —
" Their Lordships must see how necessary it was that military
orders should be upheld, and that no individual, however high
his station, should be permitted to contravene them; and be
was sure that when it was alleged that the first law officer of
the country had defied that authority, some explanation was due.
The Lord Chancellor had been chai'ged with breaking through the
King's Guard on the day of the last drawing-room. There might
be some exaggeration ; and in order that their Lordships might be
in possession of the facts, he would ask his noble and gallant
friend three questions. First, Whether the King's Guard had been
forced by the Lord Chancellor ? Secondly, Wliether this arose from
mistake or from a misconception of the orders given to the Guard?
Thirdly, Whether the officer whose Guard was forced had been put
under arrest, or had satisfactorily explained his conduct ?"
Lord Hill, the Commander-in-Chief, said that, after the
fullest investigation, he came to the conclusion that the officer
was not to blame, and that the soldiers under him had done
their duty ; and he was quite satisfied, from his communi-
cation with the noble and learned lord himself, that he had
no idea whatever of forcing the Guard.
" Lo7-d Chancellor. — I can assure your Lordships that no one
in the world thinks less of the state and pomp of the office which
A.D, 1831.
.S90 REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP I hold than I do. The observances of that state and pomp are to
me certainly the most irksome and the most oppressive parts of
my public duty ; and it was not from any foolish wish of passing
through the Horse Guards, instead of going round by Piccadilly
and down Constitution Hill, that I ordered my carriage to the
Horse Guards. I had been detained late in the House of Lords
to determine an appeal of great urgency, and I had only time
by the shortest route to pay my duty to their Majesties. When
suddenly stopped by my horses' reins being seized, I thought
there must be some mistake, which was strengthened by the
remark of the oflScer, that it was only the Speaker of the House
of Commons who had permission to pass, as I could not imagine
that the same privilege should not be extended to the Speaker of
the Upper House. The oflScer, however, having satisfied me
that there was no mistake, and that his orders were peremptory, I
said, ' Then I must turn back.' But I suppose the footman had
not communicated to the coachman the order to turn back. I
certainly was never more surprised in my life than when I foimd
that my coachman had taken me through, and I was in St.
James's Park before I could pull the check-string. I certainly
then thought that it would have been ridiculous to have turned
back as the mischief had been done by the mistaken zeal of my
coachman, who had acted on his former orders, to make as much
haste as possible. In conversation, to save the man, I have taken
the whole blame upon myself ; but I can assure your Lordships
that I am the last person to furnish an example of setting military
discipline at defiance, and that I was far from entertaining the
idea of forcing the King's Guard. I do not well see how I could
have accomplished this exploit single-handed, even with the aid
of the mace and the purse. Nothing could be further from my
intentions than to sanction any breach of the orders of his late
or his present Majesty." *
King William lY., M'ho thouglit that tliis was little short
of a " levying of war," publicly professed himself satisfied
with the Chancellor's explanation ; but privately expressed
a doubt whether the order given to the coachman, when he
whipped his horses, had not been " Forward ! " And ever
after, when anything occurred to alarm him by Lord Chan-
cellor Brougham's vagaries, this incident oi forcing the Guard
came back to his recollection. For a while it made a great
sensation, and was the subject of many songs and caricatures.
* 3 Hansard, 493.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 391
The ' Times ' had an elaborate leader upon it, supposed to CHAr.
smack of the Chancellor's own touch, and saying that " the ^'
coachman had done it all." But as yet there was a close a.d. 1831.
fraternity between him and Barnes, the editor; insomuch
that this journal, which was hereafter to vilify him griev-
ously, swarmed with puffs on Lord Brougham so gross that
he could not have penned them himself: extolling to the
skies his genius, his acquirements, and his Herculean appli-
cation to all his labours.* And, such was the effect of
iteration, that before he had said a word in Parliament upon
the bill, Keformers deemed him the hope of the nation.
County meetings, and other popular assemblies, passed reso-
lutions expressing their confidence in him ; and several
corporations, as prepayment for his services, voted him their
freedom. On receiving this honour from the citizens of York,
to increase their enthusiasm he already expressed his regret
that he had accepted the Great Seal and was no longer their
servant.
The grand crisis of the Reform Bill was now at hand. Sudden dis-
Although popular with the nation, it was distasteful to the parliament.
existing House of Commons. If the votes upon it had been
taken by ballot, it would have been rejected by an immense
majority ; and, with all the terrors of open voting before
the eyes of members, they passed the second reading by a
majority of one only. Subsequently, on General Gascoigne's i9th April,
motion against reducing the number of representatives for
England, they plainly showed a determination to mutilate
the bill ; and, with small majorities in favour of any part
of it in the Lower House, there seemed a certainty that it
would be at once crushed by the Lords. The following
evening a very hostile disposition to the Government was 20th April.
shown in a committee on the Ordnance Estimates, and what
was done was said to amount to a stopping of the sup])lies.
The following day a Cabinet was held, and a resolution oj^^ .^^j.;]
was unanimously passed to advise the King immediately to
dissolve the Parliament. At the rising of the Cabinet this
resolution was communicated by Lord Grey and the Lord
* E.g. " Parliamentary Keforni is safe from the pigantic powers of its
champion on the woolsack." — ' Times,' 1st February, 1831.
392 EEIGN OP WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. Chancellor to his Majesty, who very readily assented to it ;
' and the usual orders were given in the usual manner for the
A.D. 1831. ceremony of a prorogation to take place next day.
Yet, to shake all faith even in contemporary history?
within twenty years from the event a publication appeared,
professing to be a ' History of the Whig Administration ;
by John Arthur Eoebuck, Esq., M.P. for Sheffield.' This
gentleman was a particularly intimate private friend of
Lord Brougham, and professed that he obtained from Lord
Brougham authentic information of all the secret proceed-
ings of the Government while Lord Brougham remained in
office. The author gives a totally different account of the
interview between the King and his two Ministers ;* yet, with
such claims to authenticity, it is utterly fabulous.f
Fabulous Mr. Roebuck's narration being every way so closely con-
upou Lord nected with the subject of this memoir, I copy it in extenso,
Biougnam's ^nd it will at all events amuse the reader, althouo^h I fear
authority of, ii-t i i
his having that it violatcs probability too much to be considered ar-
assumedtLe tistically gOod :—
lunctions oi Jo
loy'i y- u Qjj ^j^g morning of the 22nd, Lord Grey and the Lord Chan-
cellor waited on the King in order to request that he would instantly
and on that day dissolve the House. The whole scene of this inter-
view of the King and his Ministers, as related by those who
could alone describe it, is a curious illustration of the way in
which the great interests of mankind often seem to depend on
petty incidents, and in which ludicrous puerilities often mix
themselves up with events most important to the welfare of
whole nations. The necessity of a dissolution had long been
foreseen and decided on by the Ministers, but the King had not
yet been persuaded to consent to so bold a measure ; and now the
two chiefs of the administration were about to intrude themselves
into the royal closet, not only to advise and ask for a dissolution,
but to request the King on the sudden, on this very day, and
* Vol. ii. 148.
t See 'Correspondence of the late Earl Grey with King William IV.,'
published in 1867, where it appears that the King had given his consent to a
dissolution, in a letter to Lord Grey early on the 21st of April ; and the subse-
quent interview of Lord Grey and the Chancellor with the King on the 22nd,
before the Council met at 12 o'clock, was to request the King to prorogue
Parliament in person, which he at once agreed to do. — Ed.
A.D, 1881.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 393
mthin a few hours, to go down and put an end to his Parliament CHAP,
in the midst of the session, and with all the ordinary business of ^*
the session yet unfinished. The bolder mind of the Lord Chan-
cellor took the lead, and Lord Grey anxiously solicited him to
manage the Iving on the occasion. So soon as they were admitted
the Cliancellor, with some care and circumlocution, propounded
to the King the object of the interview they had sought. The
startled monarch no sooner understood the drift of the Chan-
cellor's somewhat paraphrastic statement, than he exclaimed in
wonder and anger against the very idea of such a proceeding.
' How is it possible, my Lords, that I can after this fashion lepay
the kindness of Parliament to the Queen and myself? They have
granted me a most liberal civil list, and to the Queen a splendid
annuity in case she survives me.' The Chancellor confessed that
they had, as regarded his Majesty, been a liberal and wise Parlia-
ment, but said that, nevertheless, their further existence was in-
compatible with the peace and safety of the kingdom. Both he and
Lord Grey then strenuously insisted upon the absolute necessity
of their request, and gave his Majesty to understand that this
advice was by his Ministers unanimously resolved on, and that
they felt themselves unable to conduct the affairs of the country
in the present condition of the Parliament. This last statement
made the King feel that a general resignation would be the con-
sequence of a further refusal ; of this, in spite of his secret
wishes, he was at the moment really afraid ; and therefore he,
by employing petty excuses, and suggesting small and temporary
difficulties, soon began to show that he was about to yield.
' But, my Lords, nothing is prepared ; the great officers of State
are not summoned.' 'Pardon me, Sir,' said the Chancellor,
bowing with profound apparent humility, ' we have taken the
great liberty of giving them to understand that your Majesty
commanded their attendance at the proper hour.' ' But, my
Lords, the crown and the robes, and other things needed, are not
prepared.' ' Again I most humbly entreat your Majesty's pardon
for my boldness,' said .the Chancellor, ' they are all prepared and
ready, the proper officers being desired to attend in proper form
and time.' ' But, my Lords,' said the King, reiterating the form
in which he put his objection, ' you know the thing is wholly
impossible ; the guards, the troops, have had no orders, and
cannot be ready in time.' This objection was in reality the
most formidable one. The orders to the troops on such occasions
emanate always directly from the King, and no person but the
Kino- can in truth command them for such service ; and as the
394 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. Prime Minister and darinoj Chancellor well knew the nature of
royal susceptibility on such, matters, they were in no small
degree doubtful and anxious as to the result. The Chancellor
therefore, with some real hesitation, began as before : ' Pardon
me, Sir ; we know how bold the step is, that, presuming on
your goodness and your anxious desire for the safety of your
kingdom and happiness of your people, we have presumed to
take — I have given orders, and the troops are ready.' The King
started in serious anger, flamed red in the face, and burst forth
with ' What, my Lords, have you dared to act thus ? Such a
thing was never heard of. You, my Lord Chancellor, ought to
know that such an act is treason, high treason, my Lord.' ' Yes,
Sir,' said the Chancellor, 'I do know it; and nothing but my
thorough knowledge of your Majesty's goodness, of your paternal
anxiety for the good of your people, and my own solemn belief
that the safety of the State depends upon this day's proceedings,
could have emboldened me to the performance of so unusual, and,
in ordinary circumstances, so improper a proceeding. In all
humility I submit myself to your Majesty, and am ready in my
own person to bear all the blame, and receive all the punishment
which your Majesty may deem needful ; but I again entreat your
Majesty to listen to us and to follow our counsel ; and as you
value the security of your crown and the peace of your realms,
yield to our most earnest solicitations.' After some further
expostulations by both his Ministers, the King cooled down and
consented. Having consented, he became anxious that every-
thing should be done in the proper manner, and gave minute
directions respecting the ceremonial. The speech to be spoken
by him at the prorogation was ready prepared, and in the Chan-
cellor's pocket. To this he agreed ; desired that everybody might
punctually attend, and dismissed his Ministers' for the moment
with something between a menace and a joke, ujDon the audacity
of their proceeding."
The KiDg's Although the King subsequently became very much alarmed
cerityTn'd t)y the " Eeform mania" which burst out upon the dissolution
zeal in the of Parliament, and he then took a keen dislike to the measure
form. and to the Ministers who introduced it, at this time he was a
hearty reformer, and he enjoyed much the popularity which
this character conferred upon him. In truth, he was chagrined
by the opposition to the bill which had sprung up in the
Commons, — being then persuaded that it arose from a combi-
nation of borough-mongers, who wished to. control tlie Crown
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 395
and to centre all power in an odious oligarcliy. He therefore CHAr.
sincerely approved of an appeal to the people. It was reported
that there being some delay in the arrival of the royal carriage a.d. 1831.
with the eight cream-coloured horses to carry him to West-
minster, he exclaimed, " Never mind ; I am ready to go in a
hackney-coach." This, though much less improbable, I dare
say is not more true than that the Chancellor, before the King
had been consulted about a prorogation, had ordered the
great officers of State, the crown, the royal robes, and the
military, to be in readiness for the ceremonial at a given
hour. But, after diligent inquiry, I can take upon myself to
say, that all who had an opportunity of knowing or ascertaining
the fact, with the exception of Lord Brougham's jjrotege, concur
in testifying that his Majesty, instead of being constrained
upon this occasion, most joyously adopted the advice which
was tendered to him.
The prorogation scene, which I myself witnessed, strongly April 22nd.
corroborates this supposition. It greatly resembled the termi- P-nt acted
nation of some of the refractory Parliaments in the reign of ciiarn:eiior
Charles I., — when the Gentleman Usher of the black rod, '" *'^? P'°"
rotjation
coming to summon the Commons, was barred out, tumultuary sceue.
resolutions were moved, and at last the Sovereign addressed
the representatives of the people in the tone of a Judge
passing sentence of death on a criminal.
As the Earl of Mansfield had given notice for this day of a
hostile motion concerning the Eeform Bill, the Chancellor
manoeuvred to deprive him of the opportunity of bringing it
forward. He continued hearing an appeal till a late hour,
and then withdrew, not meaning to return till he should enter
in the procession with the King. But, as soon as he was gone,
Lord Mansfield, according to the privilege of the Peers, moved
that the Earl of Shaftesbury should take the chair as Speaker
— which was done immediately. Lord Wharncliffe then rose
to move an address to the King, praying that he would not
dissolve the present Parliament. He was interrupted by
ministerialists, and at least five Peers were on their legs at
one time trying to gain a hearing, and looking as if resolved
to come to blows. At last Lord Wharncliffe was permitted
to make his motion, and there seemed great danger that it
396 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, might be carried by acclamation, when Lord Shaftesbury was
' dislodged from the woolsack by the appearance of the Lord
A.D. 1831, Chancellor in a state of great distraction, and screaming out
in the most passionate tone of voice: —
" ' I never yet heard that the Crown ought not to dissolve Par-
liament whenever it thought fit, particularly at a moment when
the House of Commons had resorted to the extreme step of
refusing the supplies."
There were loud cries of " Sear, hear. The King, the King I "
and (according to Hansard) " altogether immense confusion."
The Lord Chancellor thought he had effectually prevented
any further attempt at discussion, and again withdrew. But
no sooner was he gone than Lord Shaftesbury was again
placed on the woolsack, and Lord Mansfield was declaiming
furiously against the dissolution and against the Eeform Bill,
when cries were heard of " The King ! The King ! God save
the King ! " At that instant the large doors were thrown
open on the right of the throne, and his Majesty, accom-
panied by the Chancellor and other great ofiScers, entered the
House with a firm though rather hasty step, and having seated
himself on the throne, looked round to the quarter fromwhicli
the disturbance had come with evident signs of ano^er. The
Commons were then summoned, and when they had arrived
his Majesty began : " My Lords and Gentlemen, I have come
to meet you for the purpose of proroguing the Parliament,
with a view to its immediate dissolution " — pronouncing the
word with deep emphasis and evident exultation.* We do
not follow the fashion of the French, who on these occasions
holloa out " Vive le Roil " or " Vive VEmpereurV^ (as it may
be) while his French Majesty is still sitting on his throne ;
but when our Sailor King was returning to his Palace he was
saluted with loud cries of " Well done, old boy ! — sarved them
right ! Three cheers for the King and Reform. Hip, hip,
hurra ! " And he seemed much delighted with the applause
which he received.
The dissolution was attended with the most splendid success.
At the elections the anti-reformers were scattered like chafi'
* 3 Hansard, ISIO.
LIFE OF LORD I\ROUGHAM. 397
before tlie wincl, and an overwlielming majority was returned CHAP,
to the House of Commons for " the bill, the whole bill, and '
nothing but the bill." ^d_ 183i
Still the Lords resolutely stood up in opposition, and at The Lord
the opening of the new session the Lord Chancellor was <^?'''^"^e" "'''•''
1 1, 1 f< 1 • viiidicatiun.
severely called to account for his conduct on the day of the
prorogation. After appealing to his general character and
the uniform respect and courtesy with which he had ever
treated the House and every individual member of it; he came
to the particular charge : —
" It has been asserted, my Lords, that I threw my hat on the
woolsack and flounced out of the House in an unbecomino-
manner, at a time when I knew that the King was not nearer to
the House than the Horse Guards. I did not leave the House,
however, until I received a positive order from the King, com-
municated to me by the Gentleman Usher of the Black Kod, in
these words : ' The King doth command the Lord Chancellor instantly
to give his attendance upon his Majesty, loho loaits at the bottom of the
staircase.^ The person who had a right to be offended with me
on that occasion was the Gentleman Usher of the Black Eod;
and he, finding me slow to obey his summons, pulled me, with
his usual courtesy, by the sleeve, and added, ' Did you hear what
I said ? The King has arrived, and is at the bottom of the stair-
case.' So far from the King being then at the Horse Guards, I
can assure your Lordships that upon this remonstrance I went as
fast as I could to the bottom of the staircase, and found his
Majesty there waiting for me. I hope it is perfectly unnecessary
for me to assure your Lordships that I would not have quitted
my post in this House upon any fictitious pretence whatever. It
might have been imjMr congressus, but I would rather have stayed
and broken a lance with the noble Earl if imperative duty had
not called me away." *
The bill now proceeded through all its stages in the House 7th October,
of Commons, supported by steady majorities. On the fifth ^^''^
night ol the debate, on the second reading m the House of celebrated
Lords, Brougham delivered his great speech in defence of it, ^J^^''^^^ °"
which by many was considered his chef-cTceuvre. It certainly cond reading
was a wonderful performance to witness. He showed a most tbrm^Biii'
stupendous memory and extraordinary dexterity in handling
* 4 Hansard, 153.
398 KEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, tlie weapons botli of ridicule and of reason. Without a note
' to refer to he went through all the speeches of his opponents
A.D. 1831. delivered during the five nights' debate, analysing them suc-
cessively, and, with a little aid from perversion, giving them
all a seemingly triumphant answer. But in looking through
the printed speech, as reported by himself, I find great diffi-
culty in selecting any passages which would give any idea of
its excellence ; and I must confine myself to the peroration.
This was partly inspired by draughts of mulled port imbibed
by him very copiously towards the conclusion of the four
hours during which he was on his legs or on his knees : —
"Among the awful considerations that now bow down my
mind, there is one which stands pre-eminent above the rest.
You are the highest judicature in the realm ; you sit here as
judges, and decide all causes, civil and criminal, without appeal.
It is a judge's first duty never to pronounce sentence, in the most
trifling case, without hearing. Will you make this the excep-
tion? Are you really prepared to determine, but not to hear,
the mighty cause upon which a nation's hopes and fears hang?
You are. Then beware of your decision ! Eouse not, I beseech
you, a peace-loving, but a resolute people; do not alienate from
your body the aifections of a whole empire. As your fi'iend, as
the friend of my order, as the friend of my country, as the
faithful servant of my sovereign, I counsel you to assist with
your uttermost efforts in preserving the peace, and upholding
and perpetuating the constitution. Therefore I pray and I exhort
you not to reject this measure. By all you hold most dear — by
all the ties that bind every one of us to our common order and
our common country, I solemnly adjure you — I warn you— I
implore you — yea, on my bended knees (he kneels), I supplicate
you — reject not this bill ! " *
He continued for some time as if in prayer ; but his friends,
alarmed for him lest he should be suffering from the effects
of the mulled port, picked him up and placed him safely on
the woolsack.
Like Burke's famous dagger scene in the House of Com-
mons, this prostration was a failure. So unsuited was it to
the spectators and to the actor, that it produced a sensation
of ridicule, and considerably impaired the effect of a speech
* Lord Brougham's Speeches, vol. ii. p. 629-630.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 399
displaying wonderful powers of memory and of intellect, CHAP,
although hardly deserving the epithets bestowed upon it by '
the 'Times' — " overpowering, matchless, and immortal." a.d. 1831.
Lord Lyndhurst answered the Chancellor with great
ability; but, to neutralise his panegyric on Schedule A, by
which so many boroughs were disfranchised, he very unfairly
quoted a letter on Eeform, written by Brougham in 1810, in
which he deprecated disfranchisement, declaring that " healing
is better than amputation." In explanation, the Chancellor
said that the letter had been stolen from him by a servant and
improperly published, and that he had that very day granted
an injunction against its farther publicatioa With candour
and dignity he admitted " a change in his opinions " on this
subject.
The injunction caused the letter to be published in all the
newspapers in the kingdom. In truth, the writer had no
reason to be ashamed of it. Soberly it advocates reform, but
preaches moderation, preserving the tone of the ' Edinburgh
Review ' upon the subject, — then considered the exponent of
orthodox Whig doctrine.
Notwithstanding the Chancellor's prayer and his " over-
powering, matchless, and immortal speech," at half-past six in
the morning the bill was rejected by a majority of forty-one
Peers.
The country now seemed to be on the eve of a revolution. Q"estionas
. .to the crea-
The people and one House of Parliament representmg them tion of peers
were resolutely determined to have reform ; the other House i"ef^^,.',7Bm''
of Parliament had shown a fixed resolution to resist it, and
the King, now heartily repenting that he had ever en-
couraged it, wished most earnestly that he might hear of
it no more.
The Wliig leaders felt that they could not possibly remain
in office without again bringing forward the measure, and
they sincerely and patriotically felt that no efficient Govern-
ment could be formed by their adversaries on anti-reform
principles. Therefore, instead of resigning, they came to
the resolution that it was their duty still to try to carry the
measure by the aid of the King, however plainly he might
now show his dislike to it, and Brougham, with his usual
400 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, boldness, proposed that they should ask him to consent to the
' creation of the requisite number of Peers for accomplishing
A.D. 1831. the object in view. This was allowed to be an unconstitutional
proceeding, a sort of coujp d'etat, a disguised revolution ;
but a hope was expressed that the power to do the deed would
be sufficient, without the deed being actually done — and that
at all events public convulsion and civil war might thus be
avoided. The King at first declared that the proposal was to
rob him of a great prerogative for the purpose of employing
it against the Crown ; but when he was told that his present
servants must all resign unless his Majesty should be gra-
ciously pleased to take their advice upon this point, and that
they all conscientiously and strongly believed that the advice
was, under the present unprecedented circumstances, for the
honour of the Crown and the benefit of the people, he said
he could hold out no longer, and gave them to understand
that, if necessary, he was ready to agree to the creation of
Peers to carry the Eeform Bill, but did not give any absolute
pledge, and did not sign anything on paper, upon the subject.
Upon this verbal understanding Parliament was prorogued
with an intimation from the Throne that the subject of
Eeform would speedily be again brought forward.
His attack Although during the late Session of Parliament Eeform
Wynford absorbed all attention, there was a bill introduced by the
Chancellor which deserves to be noticed, as showing the reck-
less manner in which he proceeded, with the view of mortify-
ing and degrading a j)C)litical opponent. Lord Wynford,
14th Juiv, late Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, had been entrusted
1830 .
to preside in the House of Lords on the hearing of Scotch
Appeals, and had, in a case, McGavin v. Stewart, rightly
enough reversed a decree of the Court of Session, and ordered
a new trial, but inadvertently had directed that the second
trial should be before a Special Jury, and that on this occa-
sion hoth parties should he examined viva voce. Unfortunately
special juries were then unknown in Scotland, and both
parties were dead. Subsequently, Brougham holding the
Great Seal, Lord Wynford had given him much offence, not
only by opposing the Eeform Bill but by petulantly object-
ing to all the measures of the Government.
LIFE OP LOKD BROUGHAM. 401
To be revenged, my Lord Chancellor one eveniniv, shortly chap.
before the prorogation, laid on the table " A Bill to reverse
the Judgment of the House of Lords on the Appeal of McGavin a.d. 1 83 1 .
V. Stewart," saying: — nth Oct.
" The judgment, my Lords, is utterly inconsistent with tlie
law of Scotland. It must have been pronounced by some of your
Lordships unacquainted with Scotch law. The natural conse-
(juence is that it is contrary to that law. The thing must have
arisen in the pressure of business — owing to that inopia consilii
which you have had to lament in this House. The judgment was
pronounced some months before I had the honour of a seat here.
I shall move that the Standing Orders be suspended, as it is very
desirable that the bill should pass without delay."
The bill was accordingly read a first time, and an article
appeared in the ' Times ' next morning showing " how the
Chancellor had been compelled to do all this, and that
the defaulting Appellate Judge was Lord Wynford." But
the impropriety of the proceeding was so great, and it caused
such an outcry among considerate persons, that on the day
fixed for the second reading of the bill and carrying it
through all its other stages, the Chancellor said " he found
that no material inconvenience would arise from postponing
it." Lord Wynford denied that the judgment was wrong.
Lord Lyndhurst, Chief Baron, was of opinion that "it was
quite right ; but that at all events this House, like any other
Court, might amend its own judgmeuts." Lord Chancellor :
" That power only belongs to inferior Courts, and the most
serious consequences would follow if it were assumed by this
the Court of dernier ressori."
In truth, a power of reversing its judgments after they
have been solemnly recorded does not belong to any Court,
high or low ; and a solemn judgment of the House of Lords,
after the termination of the Session in which it has been
pronounced, could only be reversed by Act of Parliament.
But the judgment in question was right in point of law, and
required no reversal, but a mere correction of what might be
considered a mtsj^rision, or clerical mistake. Accordingly it
was rectified by omitting the word sjyecial and the direction
as to the examination of the parties, and the bill for reversing
VOL. VIII. 2 D
402 REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, it was withdrawn amidst symptoms of a universal opinion
" that it ought never to have been presented. However, the
A.D. 1831. Chancellor, though feeling some annoyance at the moment,
very soon got over it, and was able to exercise a complete
ascendancy over Lord Wynford.
I ought now to mention that during the whole period
when the Eeform Bill seemed entirely to absorb the attention
of mankind, and the Lord Chancellor's share in it seemed
occupation enough for the most vigorous mind, he was de-
voting himself to his judicial duties with an assiduity and
perseverance hardly ever manifested by Judges who did not
mix in politics and thought of nothing but their cause papers.
He sat later into the autumn, and later into the night, than
had ever been before known, notwithstanding the remon-
strances of counsel, solicitors, and officers of the Court.
From the address which he delivered on taking leave of
the bar for the long vacation, his head seems actually
to have been tm^ned by the whirl of violent excitement in
which he lived. I cannot suspect him of wilfully misstating
the truth, or of proposing to do what he himself knew to be
impossible. Yet he did make statements entirely at variance
with fact, and he promised a feat as difficult for him as to
jump into a pint bottle. Although Sir John Leach, one of
the most expeditious Judges who ever sat, was then Master
of the Kolls, and Sir Lancelot Shadwell filled the office of
Vice-Chancellor (necessarily created for the assistance of the
Lord Chancellor), and, though not a profound lawyer, was
well acquainted with the routine of Chancery business and
despatched it very rapidly, and the Lord Chancellor himself
had worked very hard and got through a long list of appeals ;
in point of fact, there were large arrears in the Court of
Chancery still remaining to be wiped off; and instead of the
Chancellor doing the whole of his own work and the Yice-
Chancellor's too, it was ere long found necessary to create
two new and additional Vice-Chancellors. Yet thus spoke
Lord Chancellor Brougham on the 2nd day of September,
A.D. 1831, before an immense audience, many of whom he
might have been aware perfectly well knew the accuracy or in-
accuracy, the reasonableness or the folly, of what he uttered : —
A.D. 1831.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 403
" It is a great satisfaction to me, in taking my leave of the CHAP,
bar and of the suitors, to know that I have been able to dispose
of all the arrears of the business of this Court, and that there are
no appeals undisposed of, no petitions unanswered, and no causes
unheard except such as are not read}^ and which have been put
upon the files of the Court subsequent to last June. It is a veiy
great relief to the Court ; it will be a very great relief to the bar ;
it will be a very great relief to all professional men ; above all, it
will be a very great relief to the suitors to feel that thej'- shall have
their business henceforward regularly going on, not encumbered by
arrears, and not have their minds oppressed with the harassing
prospect of never getting through, their business. In the course
of nest tenn the benefi.t of this will be perceived, and it will be
allowed that our time has been well spent. It has pressed hard
on the Court, but I have been willing to bear that pressure,
knowing well that the public will feel the full benefi.t of the more
than ordinary exertions that have been made. It was said by a
great man, the most illustrious of all my predecessors, that he
allowed the pressure of business upon him to be more than he
could bear ; to which he replied ' the duties of life are more than
life ' — memorable words, to be had in everlasting remembrance
by all men who serve their country. ... I beg to add that
I have now the most sanguine hopes of being able for the future
to relieve his Honour the Vice-Chancellor from hearing the
greater part of the causes which have been, since the year 1813,
ordinarily heard in his Court. . . . When I came into the
Court I found that every cause which was of great importance in
point of value, or of difficulty in point of law or of fact, and
which in the first instance came before their Honours the Master
of the Eolls and the Vice-Chancellor, almost inevitably found its
way here by appeal, and generally, certainly in the majority of
cases, only led to great expense, great delay, and great inconve-
nience, whether there should be an ultimate affirmance or re-
versal of the decree pronounced in the first instance. I proposed,
therefore, that all such cases of difficulty and importance in
point of value, or from the law as applying to them, should be at
once transferred here and heard by me, as thereby the, otherwise
inevitable, appeal would be avoided. The event has justified my
prospective conjecture, and leads me now to form the plan which
I shall certainly adopt, namely, that of transferring at once the
bulk of that business into this Court I admit that
though I have sat only two days later than Lord Eldon ever did,
yet I have sat many more hours in the course of the day ; and I
am aware of the embarrassments and inconveniences which this
2 D 2
404 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, may have caused. I am not, however, aware that its tendency
has been to abridge arguments in any case ; for I am sure I have
A.D. 1831.
endeavoured to show as much patience as any man could possess,
that I might not indicate the slightest indisposition to hear the
longest argument. Even where I have thought argument super-
fluous, I have hardly ever stopped the reply in cases where I haA'-e
been in favour of the side on which the reply was to be made ;
and still more rarely have I disposed of cases on hearing one side
only. I therefore cannot charge myself with having got rid of
this arrear, and accomplishing this dispatch, at the expense of
curtailing the hearing of causes."
Although the judicious grieved, I have been told that the
great mass of by-standers who heard this address were tlirown
into such transports of enthusiasm by it that they could
scarcely be restrained from violating the decorum of the
place by loudly applauding the Judge, aud when it was read
in the daily newspapers, the public really believed that a
new era had arrived, and that, as far as the administration of
justice was concerned, there was now to be a golden age.
" The Chancellor is determined," said the ' Times ' " that nothing
of a personal nature shall interfere with the discharge of his
public duty. He has cleared the Court of Chancery. He is
resolved to do the same with the judicial proceedings of the
House of Lords by sitting seven hours each day. No one but
himself would have ventured on the task. Eelasation he will
have none. His carping assailants ought to know how immea-
surably he is above their reach."
8th Sept. The Coronation of William lY. now took place, and afforded
ceik)r at the ^^ excellent test of the popularity of the respective members
Coronation, of the peerage. As they came successively, according to
their precedence, to pay homage to the crowned Sovereign
seated on his throne in Westminster Abbey before the as-
sembled nation, silence prevailed, or plaudits, according to
the general opinion of the merits and services of each par-
ticular Peer. " Lord Brougham, at the Coronation, received
every testimony of the warmest and most eager approbation."
So said the ' Times ' — and (on this occasion) truhj. Having been
present myself as a member of the House of Commons, I can
testify that when the Lord Chancellor, the first of the lay
Peers after the Royal Dukes, presented himself on the steps
of Lords.
LIFE OF LOED BKOUGHAM. 405
of the throne, knelt and went throngh the antique ceremony CHAP,
of doing homage to his liege lord, the plaudits were so loud ^'
and general as not only to make the vaulted roofs of the a.d. 1831.
sacred edifice to resound, but almost to shake its massive
walls. Sad example of the fleeting nature of popular ap-
plause ! — but instructive lesson as to the arts by which
popular applause should be sought !
After a short recess a new Keform Bill, with some
alterations, but no improvements, was introduced into the
Commons, and passed that House with comparatively little
opjjosition.
When brought up to the Lords there was a firm j)urpose a.d. 1832.
entertained by a decided majority that it should not finally 26th March.
pass, but a certain section of their Lordships who were irre- J}^f ^^^°^t
^ \ _ _ ^ Keform Bill
concileably adverse to it, influenced partly by the odium in the House
they had incurred from the hasty step of throwing out the
former bill on the second reading, and partly by the vague
rumour of a contemplated creation of Peers upon a similar
occurrence, determined to reserve themselves for the com-
mittee, and then and there to wreak their vengeance by
tearing every clause of it into shreds. Still so large was the
number of those who thought any seeming concession treason,
that the second reading was considered doubtful, and the
Chancellor was again obliged to put forth his strength. On
this occasion, however, he reasoned more soberly, and the
kneeling scene was entirely omitted. He concluded by thus
forcibly meeting the observation that the anxiety of the
people as to the success of the bill had subsided : —
" Do not, my Lords, let any man among you deceive himself
with this belief. I tell you that the anxiety of the people has not
gone by, that it exists as strongly and as intensely as ever, with
this only difference, that it has stood the test of disappointment
and long delay — of the hope deferred that maketh the heart sick.
Eely on it that from one end of this land to the other, the people
— the intelligent, the thinking, the rational, the honest people —
not merely of this metropolis, but of every town, village, and
hamlet in England, and, if possible, still more in Scotland — hang
with breathless suspense upon your decision this night. I hope,
I confidently believe, indeed I expect with certainty, that the
decision will diff"use universal joy throughout the empire ; that it
406 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, will terminate tlie painful suspense with wliicli this bill lias been
so long regarded, and above all, that it will greatly increase
towards your Lordships the affections of your fellow-citizens."*
The second reading was carried by a majority of iiine.t
Great biun- I have explained in my 'Life of Lyndhurst'l how that
mitted by unsciupulous chief might now easily have won a victory
LordLymi- for the anti-reformino; Peers by movincr in the Committee
amendments which would not have given the Whig leaders
plausible grounds for throwing up their offices and appealing
from the King to the people, but which would have so
damaged the bill that the Whig leaders could not have
agreed to them without being liable to the charge of pusilla-
nimity and tergiversation. Brougham has often told me
with glee the fatal mistake which Lyndhurst committed by
his sweej^ing motion in the Committee that the consideration
of Schedules A and B should be postponed, supporting it by a
speech against all disfranchisement. Happily for the cause
of reform this motion was carried by a considerable majority.
Lord Grey might have exclaimed, " The Lord hath delivered
them into my hand ! "
Brougham, by the general consent of the Cabinet, now
dictated the course to be pursued. Although always
"Pleased with the danger when the waves run high,"
I cannot say that he is always
"A skilful pilot in extremity."
But on this occasion he acted boldly, prudently, and suc-
cessfully.
Resignation A lespcctful representation was made to the Kins: that the
•of the Whig ,. -^ ^ , . , , , °
Ministers, time was uow come when, without an absolute power of
creating Peers, the Keform Bill could not pass. His Majesty
had been led to believe by the Queen and others with whom
he lived that the people really had become indifferent about
reform, and that at ajiy rate they would be contented with a
much smaller measure of reform than that to which his
present Ministers were jDledged. He had likewise a notion
which seemed very absurd when first mentioned, but which
12 Hansard, 428. f 184 to 175. lb. 454. J See p. 80.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM,
407
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 183'J
the event proved to be true, tliat Lord Lyndhurst and his co-
adjutors, who strenuously argued against all reform, and who
had insisted that the House of Commons as then constituted
was the leau ideal of a representative body in a free country,
might be induced to become his Ministers for the purpose of
adopting the bill with amendments and carrying it, so that
the royal word given in favour of the Eeform Bill might be
saved. His Majesty, therefore, courteously but firmly refused
the demand made upon him by his Ministers ; they resigned
in a body, and he sent for Lord Lyndhurst.
Brougham immediately took leave of the bar in the Court
of Chancery, and on this occasion in a very temperate and
becoming tone. After saying that he trusted the time would
ere long come when the highest judicial duties of our civil
tribunals would be unmixed with political functions, he thus
concluded : —
" And now, upon quitting this Court, I should, in ordinary
circumstances, feel nothing but the pain of parting with those to
whom my kind and respectful thanks are so justly due, for the
unvaried respect and kindness which I have experienced from
them. But in my voluntary retirement from hence, which is
only painful as it causes this separation, I am supported by the
principles which have dictated the course I pursue. 1 am more
than supported ; the personal feelings to which I have adverted
are lost in those which now compel me, I triast without any
undue sense of pride, to regard the abandonment of power at the
command of public duty, not as misfortune, but as gloiy."
He then set to work in good earnest in his political TheChan-
capacity, and while an attempt was makmg to quicken mto pioyment
life the feeble embryo of the new Government, speedily about ^"""S ^he
J ^ L J inierrt'g-
to be annihilated, he raised a storm all over the island as if num.
by magical cantrips. In truth he was more busy than Lord
Holland describes him on the breaking up of the Government
of " All the Talents," writing pamphlets and paragraphs for
newspapers, framing petitions to the King and the two
Houses of Parliament, directing public meetings to be
called, furnishing topics for the speakers, and cautioning
against tumults or any open breach of public tranquillity.
One stratagem resorted to for the purpose of enhancing
408 EEIGN OP WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, liis popularity and his influence, was to spread a report that
' he had been strongly solicited to retain his office under the
A.D, 1832. new Government. Said the 'Times': —
" The Lord Chancellor was pressed again and again to continue
in his high office, but peremptorily refused. Surely his Majestj'
must have forgotten that bloody record in the house of Bruns-
wick, when the too seductive persuasions of his father induced
the amiable Charles Yorke to abandon his principles and his col-
leagues,"
But it is quite certain that such a preposterous conception
never entered the royal mind. The King was acting entirely
under the advice of Lyndhurst, who was himself impatient
again to possess the Great Seal.
Brougham's occupation now was to regulate the pro-
ceedings of the political unions, and to restrain their im-
petuosity^. The Birmingham Union had a band of 100,000
men ready to march upon London, and he had great difficulty
in prevailing upon them to wait for further orders.
His favourite brother, William, the Master in Chancery,
was then member for the borough of Soutliwark, and thus
(primed, I presume, by the Chancellor) exploded at a meeting
of his constituents, assembled to petition for the recall of tbe
Whigs : —
" A report has been very prevalent that the Lord Chancellor is
to continue in office, and form part of a Government — but not
Earl Grey's Government. This report I have authority to con-
tradict. My brother will ever continue to support the cause of
the people, and with no other cause will he identify himself.
Something has been said about the people not paying taxes, and
a resolution to that effect would be highly illegal. People might
individually refuse without rendering themselves amenable to
law. Now this is an affair easily arranged. If a tax-gatherer
calls upon me, and asks me to settle his little bill for taxes, I may
say to him in reply, ' I have got a little bill of my own, Sir,
which I shoidd like to have settled by the gentlemen down in
Westminster who owe it me, and unless that little bill of mine be
satisfactorily settled, yoxi must never expect me to settle yours.'
Before I conclude, I beg to state to this meeting that my brother
the Lord Chancellor is at this moment in better health than ever;
■ he is in good fighting order, as the sham reformers will discover
to their cost. [Tlmnders of applause.] He will prove a sharp
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 409
thorn in their sides; he will never desert the cause of the CHAP.
people." * ^•
Lord Lyndhurst was not successful in Lis attempt to form a.d. 1832.
a new Government to carry the modified Eeform Bill, and
although, to the astonishment of all mankind, the Duke of
Wellington was willing to join him, he was obliged to throw
up his commission, censured by Peel, and covered with
ridicule.
The King was reduced to the sad necessity of submission,
and having signed a formal promise to consent to create
Peers for the purpose of carrying the Eeform Bill when
advised so to do by Lord Grey, the Whig Ministry was to be
reinstated.
In the explanations which then took place Brougham was
very temperate and forbearing, leaving it to Lord Grey to
state the motives of the Cabinet in retiring and returning,
as if he himself had taken no part in it, uttering only these
words : —
" I do not mean to occupy your Lordships' time by adding a word
to what has dropped from my noble friend, except to state that
which I am sure was passing across his mind when he addressed
your Lordships — that considering the absolute necessity, in the
present state of the country, of passing this measure, we shall not
again return to office except upon the condition not only of our
possessing the ability to carry the bill efficiently through the
House, but also to carry it through with every reasonable des-
patch."!
This intimation was well understood, and had the desired
effect of carrying the bill through the House with every
reasonable despatch, without exercising the power which had
been obtained. At the suggestion of the Duke of Wellington
(it was said upon a hint from the King himself) a con-
siderable number of Tory Peers absented themselves from the
* 'Roebuck's History of the Wliig Ministry,' vol. ii. p. 297. I presume
revised by oue of the brothers, if not by both. I have reat-on to remember
this speech, for when Attorney General I was much embarrassed by it when
quoted against me, conducting an ex-officio prosecution begun by my pre-
decessor, Sir W. Home, for a libel in a newspaper exhorting a passive resist-
ance to the payment of taxes.
t 12 Hunbaid, 1022.
410
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1832.
Reform
finally
House during the subsequent stages of the bill, so that it
went through the Committee without any material alteration,
and finally passed the House by a majority of eighty-four.
The sister bills for Scotland and Ireland soon followed, and
the cause of Eeform had a complete triumph.
Lord Brougham makes a question in his ' Political Phi-
losophy ' * : —
" Whether or not, if no secession had taken place, and the
Peers had persisted in really opposing the luost imj^ortant pro-
visions of the hill, we should have had recourse to the perilous
creation ? "
And he adds : —
" I cannot, with any confidence, answer it in the affirmative.
I had a strong feeling of the necessity of the case in the very
peculiar circumstances we were placed in. But such was my
deep sense of the dreadful consequences of the act, that I much
question whether I should not have preferred running the risk of
confusion that attended the loss of the bill as it then stood ; and
I have a strong impression on my mind that my illustrious friend
[Lord Grey] would have more than met me half-way in the de-
termination to face that risk (and of course to face the clamours
of the people, which would have cost us little) rather than expose
the Constitution to so imminent a hazard of subversion."
But I cannot doubt that if Lyndhurst had not quailed, the
fact would have been accomplished. I have heard, and I
believe, that a list of fifty new Peers was made out, and, con-
sisting chiefly of Scotch Peers, eldest sons of British Peers,
and respectable elderly gentlemen without any sons, it would
not have made a larger permanent addition to tlie peerage
than Pitt had made in a single batch. But there can be no
doubt that it would have been a serious blow to the Con-
stitution, and we must greatly rejoice that it was warded off.
At last, the royal assent having been given to the three
•arried, and Reform Bills, and his Majesty in his speech from the throne
car
Parliament Jiavins: exprcsscd a hope that they would restore to the nation
prorogued. i/^i • •
general confidence in the legislature, and give additional
security to the settled institutions of the State, the Chancellor
had the satisfaction of declaring it to be " his Majesty's royal
* Vol. iii. p. 308.
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 411
will and pleasure that Parliament should be prorogued until CIIAP.
the 16th day of October." * ^'
This turned out to be the closing scene of the last unre- a.d. i832.
formed Parliament, for it never met again. But this was not
then by any means the intention of King "William.
He now felt, not unnaturally, a grudge against his present Dispute be-
Ministers, and he resolved to get rid of them as speedily as K^^randhis
possible — in the mean time thwarting them M'hen he con- Ministers
stitutionally could. They were desirous of dissolution, as soon solving the
as preparations could be made for a general election under |;^^* ""'?,"
the new i-egime. He wished to mortify them by deferring liament.
the time when the much-coveted fruits of reform were to be
tasted, and he thought that the proposal was an uncalled-for
interference with his prerogative.
I happened to be within hearing when, in the beginning of
November, this controversv between them was brought to a
conclusion. In consequence of the jiromotions occasioned by
the death of Lord Tenterden, I had been appointed Solicitor
General ; and as there was to be no public levee held soon, I
was summoned to a private audience of his Majesty, that
I might kiss hands and be knighted. I found Lord Grey,
Brougham, and several other Ministers, stanchng round the
King in his closet. They all seemed, at first, to be in a state
of great excitement ; but this gradually subsided. I was pre-
sented, knelt, and rose " Sir John." His Majesty then put a
few unmeaning questions to me without attending to my
answers, and we subjects all withdrew. As we were going
down the steps to our carriages Brougham whispered to me,
" Off for Dudley — Parliament dissolved."
He afterwards fully explained to me that they had just had
a most stormy interview with the King, who had been more
obstinate and wrong-headed than they had ever found him ;
that they had tried with all sincerity and respect to explain
to him that, although he might have withheld his assent
from the Pteform Bill, now that it had, with his concurrence,
become law, a dissolution was inevitable, as the existing Par-
liament stood condemned and sentenced, and the people were
entitled to the exercise of their new franchises. " No I " he
* 14 Hansard, 141G.
412
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, declared, "he could see no necessity for tliat." The new
' francliises were to be exercised when a new Parliament was
A.D. 1832, called, but the present Parliament had sat little more than a
year, and although the two Houses had lately been at vari-
ance, he thought there would be perfect unanimity between
them.
This being a sort of legal question, the argument on the
side of the ministers was left almost entirely to the Chan-
cellor, who tried to show that the Eeform Bill in its spirit
really enacted an immediate dissolution, and who assured his
Majesty that, if not fairly acted upon, instead of being, as
his Majesty had in the conclusion of his speech from the
throne prayed that it might be — " fruitful in promoting the
security of tlie State, and the contentment and welfare of
the people " — it might lead to rebellion and civil war. Still
the- King was not convinced, when Lord Grey, in a low,
respectful, but solemn tone, informed his Majesty that his
present servants, after due deliberation, were unanimously of
opinion that the reassembling of the present Parliament
would be an unconstitutional and most inexpedient step, for
which they could not be responsible, and therefore that they
must immediately, with all humility, resign their offices into
his Majesty's hands. " Well," said the King, " I yield, but,
my Lords and Gentlemen, remember it is against my opinion
and my wishes."
Brougham now bore "his blushing honours thick upon
him," and may be considered as at his highest point of great-
ness. Although he held the Great Seal for two years more,
ere long there were dissensions in the Cabinet, there were dis-
contents among the Eadicals, there were dangerous disturb-
ances in L-elaud, there were complaints that the Reform Bill
by no means produced the felicity promised from it; dis-
coveries were made that the Chancellor's judgments were
sometimes rather crude, and heavy reproaches were levelled
against him from many quarters that he had utterly forgotten
solemn promises of promotion and patronage. But for a brief
space, comprising the end of the year 1832 and the beginning
of 1833, he enjoyed, I really believe, a greater supremacy and
popularity than any of his predecessors, Cardinal Wolsey
The Kin
yields.
Brougham
in the
zenith of
his great-
ness.
A.D. isa2.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 413
alone excepted. The nation was actually mad abont the CHAP.
Eeform Bill, and the merit of carrying it through the Lords ^'
was chiefly attributed to Lord Chancellor Brougham. He
boldly asserted, and people for a while believed, that he had
cleared off all arrears in the Court of Chancery — the first
instance of such an exploit since the time of Sir Thomas
More ; he had promised reforms in every department of juris-
prudence, which were to render the administration of justice in
all courts, civil and criminal, common law and equity, temporal
and ecclesiastical, simple, speedy, certain, and cheap. He cir-
culated reports that in the midst of all his political and judicial
labours he had renewed his experiments on light and colours,
and that he was preparing a new edition, with notes and illus-
trations, of Paley's ' Natural Theology ' ; and by the distribu-
tion of his own patronage, and borrowing liberally from the
patronage of his colleagues — above all, by promising, five or
six deep, places which were in his own gift, and many which
were not — he had enlisted in his service a corps of literary
janissaries such as had never before existed or been imagined
in this country. He was eulogised superlatively in all sorts
of publications. The ' Times ' newspaper was called his
organ — even the Opposition journals* excepted him from
the censure cast on the other members of the Whig Cabinet,
on the plea that, although associated with them, he was
exempt from their odious aristocratic tendencies, while he
eclipsed them all by his talents and acquirements. Dedica-
tions, attempting to describe his virtues, were showered
down upon him by all classes, particularly by the clergy ;
strangers flocked to London from all parts of the kingdom to
look at him ; the Court of Chancery, generally a desert from
its dulness, as often as he sat there was crowded to suffoca-
tion ; when his carriage drew up in the street a mob of
admirers gathered round to see him get into it, cheering him
as he passed by ; and tlie Italian image boys gave orders for
grosses of Lord Brougham in j)laster of Paris faster than they
* Particularly the ' Morning Herald.' It was said that the brother-in-law
of the editor, a really very worthy divine, hud received a good living from
the Chancellor, who declared that " in Church promotion party must bo
disregarded."
414
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1832.
His comins
fall.
Elections for
first Re-
formed Par-
liament.
could be manufactured. In this palmy state he could not be
accused of " high-blo'wn pride," for he was good-humoured
and courteous and kind to everybody, and seemed to regret
that he could not at all times enjoy social intercourse with
old acquaintances on a footing of perfect equality.*
But he was
' Like little wanton boys tliat swim on bladders/
and before three fleeting summers were gone he had not only
fallen from power, but he was ungenerously deserted by
friends, while cruelly assaulted by foes; he was maligned
by those to whom he had been a benefactor;" all mankind
seemed to be in a conspiracy against him ; and his own mental
faculties could hardly bear the shock which they had to sus-
tain. From this depression he rallied. He was again held
up to public gaze, but rather resembling a target to be fired
at than, as once, a Divinity to be worshipped.
I have now to describe some of his exploits while his
prosperity continued, and painfully to accompany his down-
ward career.
The elections for the first Reformed House of Commons
went strongly in favour of the Whigs. Having myself, after
a sharp contest, been returned for the newly-enfranchised
borough of Dudley, I had the honour of being warmly con-
gratulated by the Lord Chancellor as representative of " iron,"
— the professed object of creating this constituency having
been the protection of the "iron interest." His Lordship,
however, waggishly observed, that the bill was defective in not
providing a seat for the " brass interest" which Mr. Solicitor
might more appropriately have filled. As long as he held the
Great Seal we went on together most harmoniously and
cordially, although I had reason to believe that he opposed
my appointment as a law ofiicer of the Crown. I did my
* I happened to have an interview with him in his private room in the
Honse of Lords on the 16th of August, 1832, the day of tiie prorogation after
William IV. had withdrawn, and vast multitudes continued still congregated
to have a peep at Henry IX. He recalled with regret the time when he could
walk away unobserved from the robing room of the King's Bench with his
great coat on and his umbrella \mder his arm. " How I hate these trappings,"
said he, pointing to his gold gown and the mace and purse.
LIFE OF LOKD BROUGHAM. 41-!
best to snpiwrt him in all that he brought forward, and he CHAP,
always treated me with consideration and kindness.
Whig rule now seemed permanently established in Eng- a.d. 1832.
land, and the general expectation was that its march would
be smooth and easy. But, in truth, however prudently the
Whigs hereafter had behaved, they were sure to cause dis-
appointment and to incur censure. The great mass of the
people had imbibed the notion that political corruption was
now at an end for ever ; and that in all time to come, the
nation being wisely governed, all ranks would be prosperous
and contented.
The evils which must necessarily be generated by the Blunders of
inherent vices of governors and governed, and the imperfec- * ^ "^^'
tion of all human institutions, were soon greatly aggravated
by gross blunders which the Whig Government committed
after being possessed of absolute power with popular ap-
plause, I do not know that Brougham was personally to
be charged with any of these ; for at this time, although a
prominent member of the Cabinet, he was not allowed to
originate important measures. But, as Chancellor, he was
especially responsible for the bill which, at the first meeting
of the Reformed Parliament, brought about a severance
between the Whigs and a large section of the Liberal party.
Ireland was then under the administration of Mr. Stanley, Irish Coer-
heir to the house of Derby, who, as Chief Secretary to the
Lord-Lieutenant, had made himself viceroy over him ; and
this very clever but very rash youth, by his irritating pro-
ceedings respecting the collection of tithes, operating upon
a constant predisposition among the Irish to agrarian out-
rage, had brought about a general disregard of the laws
intended for the protection of life and property. He saw
no remedy except a suspension of the Constitution and
the establishment of military despotism in that portion of
the United Kingdom. This he proposed in the shape of his
famous " Irish Coercion Bill ;" and, unfortunately, it was
not distasteful to Lord Grey, who, although at all times the
champion of liberty in England, believed with the great
body of English gentlemen. Whig and Tory, that our Hiber-
nian brethren were only to be governed by force. If this
416 REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, maxim had been steadily acted upon, it would have produced
' tranquillity and material prosperity, as was seen under the
A.D. 1833. Earl of Stratford and Oliver Cromwell ; but the alternation
of severity and licence was long the bane of that unhappy
country, keeping it both turbulent and enslaved.
When the subject came before the Cabinet there was
some difference of opinion. From the Chancellor's ultra-
Liberalism, it might have been expected that he would have
been shocked by the notion of the first act of the Eeformed
Parliament, instead of extending freedom and security over
the empire, being to render all Irishmen liable to be trans-
ported beyond the seas, by the sentence of a court-martial,
for merely alleged civil offences. But he — forgetting the
provocation of which Ireland had to complain in the anti-
Catholic penal code, and the commercial restrictions forbid-
ding her to import cattle or corn into England, or to trade
with the English colonies — had, like Lord Grey, fostered a
strong prejudice against the Irish people, and he gave it as
his opinion that Stanley should be gratified. Accordingly,
the Chancellor, with his own hand, composed the following
sentence for the Royal Speech : —
" It is my painful duty to observe that the disturbances in
Ireland have greatly increased. A spirit of insubordination and
violence has risen to the most fearful height, rendering life and
property insecure, and threatening the most fatal consequences
if not promptly and effectually repressed. I feel confident that
to your loyalty and patriotism 1 shall not resort in vain for
assistance in these afflictino; circumstances."
^o
The bill being introduced by Lord Grrey to suspend the
Habeas Corpus Act and to establish courts-martial in Ireland,
the Chancellor, deploring the sad necessity for a measure of
such severity, declared that " the time had arrived when it
would be inhuman as well as unjust to hesitate about sup-
porting it," and he readily took upon himself the full share
of the responsibility which might attach to his Majesty's
Government for having proposed it. He then resorted to
the ingenious argument that, as we had no right to expect
the allegiance of the Irish people unless we afforded them
protection, a refusal to pass the bill would justify them in
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 417
separating from us and setting up an independent govern- CHAP,
ment of tbeir own.*
This inauspicious bill easily passed the House of Lords, a.d. ibjo.
being hailed with joy by Lord Eldon and his Tory associates
as outdoing their " Six Acts " passed after the " Manchester
Massacre ; " but it called forth execrations in the House of
Commons against " the base and bloody Whigs." It seri-
ously damaged the reputation of Lord Grey's Government,
and in the following year it was the direct cause of his fall
from power.
During this session Brougham was very assiduous in his '^''^ ^'^^""
efforts for improving the administration of justice in Eng- gisiative
land. He passed a bill for the abolition of a great many '"^asures.
sinecure oflices in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and for
fixing the salary of this high functionary at 14,OO0Z. a year,
with a retiring pension of 5000Z. a year. He likewise
succeeded in abolishing the Court of Delegates, — a very
inconvenient tribunal of appeal from the Ecclesiastical
Courts, invented at the Reformation, when the appeal to
Rome was taken away. He substituted for it a much better
tribunal of appeal — " the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council," which still subsists and has worked very satis-
factorily.
He was not so fortunate with a bill for establishing local
Courts, which he had proposed in the House of Commons
when member for Yorkshire, which he laid on the table
of the House of Lords when, "to his own astonishment,"
he became Chancellor, and which then dropped amidst the
tumults of parliamentary reform. He now pressed it for-
ward with the greatest earnestness. Although the prinr-iple
of the bill was good, it was not by any means skilfully
framed, and it was properly rejected. Several years after-
wards a similar bill, much improved, was introduced into
the House of Commons by Mr. Fitzroy, under the name of
the " County Courts Act," and received the sanction of the
legislature.
Before this session closed, the House of Lords was much Aiterration
. , , between the
scandalised by a very indecorous altercation between tlio chancellor
* 15 Hansard, 718.
VOL. VIIL 2 E
418
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP.
V.
A.D. 1833.
and the late
Chief Jus-
tice of the
Common
Pleas.
Chancellor and another law lord. Chief Justice Best, who
had been very improperly appointed to preside in the Court
of Common Pleas by the personal interference of George lY.
when Prince Regent, and had very improperly been created
a peer on condition of resigning his office to favour a minis-
terial job, frequently took a part in the discussion of law
bills, and never without displaying ignorance and incapacity.
He was now enlisted in the Tory opposition, and, laying
himself so open to exposure, Brougham was in the habit of
attacking him most unmercifully. On one occasion, having
pointed out some mistake into which Lord Lyndhurst had
fallen, he added —
" and thus from over-indulging his fancy, my noble and learned
friend, the Lord Chief Baron, has got into as gross an inaccuracy
as would have done honour even to the late Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas himself."
Lord Wynford. — " I have submitted to this for a long time,
but I will not be held iip to ridicule in this way any longer."
[Cries of Order, order].
TJie Lord Chancellor. — " My noble and learned friend, the late
Chief Justice, is most disorderly no doubt, but I do not com-
plain. When I speak of his inaccuracy or forge tfulness I merely
mean that he has forgotten, or perhaps has never read, the books
he refers to. I was not holding up to ridicule my noble and
learned friend the late Chief Justice. It was no holding up of
mine, and I hope my noble and learned friend, the late Chief
Justice, will bear in mind what Dean Swift said of persons who
were laughed at ."
Lord Wynford. — ■" I will bear this no longer. The noble Lord
has attacked me by name. He who is appointed to enforce the
orders of your Lordships' house is ignorant of them or wantonly
breaks them. I move that the Clerk do now read the 15th of
your Standing Orders, which requires ' all personal, sharp, or
taxing speeches to be forborne.' "
The Standing Order was read, which goes on to say —
" and as nothing offensive is to be spoken, so nothing is to be
ill-taken if the party that speaks it shall presently make a fair
exposition of the words that might bear an ill-construction ; and
if any offence be given in that kind, the House will sharply
censure the offender, and give the party offended a fit repara-
tion."
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 419
Lord Chancellm: — " Well, my Lords, if my words might boar CHAl'.
any ill-construction, have not I presently made a fair exposition of ^'
them ? This heing so, my Lords, I am the party offended ; and ~~
my noble and learned friend, the late Chief Justice, beirg the
offender, ought to be sharply censured by your Lordships, and is
bound to give me a fit reparation."
Soon after, when the Warwick Disfranchisement Bill came
np from the Commons, he gave great offence to the whole
body of barristers by supposing that they were prowlino-
about for a brief, as dogs for a bone. On his own motion, the
usual order had been made for the hearing of counsel, and
the common course would have been for the promoters and
opposers of the bill themselves to have chosen their counsel
respectively ; but the Chancellor wantonly observed, —
" It will be necessary for the House to name the counsel by
whom it would be assisted ; if not, all Westminster Hall may
be let in upon us [a laugh]. There is now an order generally
that counsel may be heard, and any one gentleman, or score of
gentlemen, on the looh out, may come dropping in under the cover
of that general order for the purpose of being engaged as counsel.
A more absurd course could not be followed."
But, in truth, the order could have misled no one ; and
no one would have taken advantage of it for a purpose so
disgraceful as the imputation thrown out implied. But he
had always great delight in laughing at briefless barristers, —
a class to which at some periods of his life he was himself
in great danger of belonging. He was very incautious in
attacking bodies of men, and thus sometimes excited more
ill-will than by a personal quarrel which might be soon
appeased. Having flattered some of the Bisliops by asking
them to name incumbents for small livings in his gift, he
offended them all by saying in their absence, when they had
left the house to go to dinner, that " their god was their
beUy."
The memorable public legislative measures of this session iiish Tcm-
were (1), The Irish Church Temporalities Act, by which ten ^^^^^2
bishoprics were suppressed, and the Church cess or rate was siaveiy
to be paid from the produce of Church lands ; and (2), The mi^ ' ""^
Slavery Abolition Act, by which, after a short apprentice-
2 E 2
420 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, sj^ip to freedom, all slaves in the British colonies were to be
' set free. Tlie Lord Chancellor supported them usefully as
A.D. 1833. they passed through the House of Lords ; but they both
originated with the Commons, and were both measures of
Stanley, who, in spite of his Coercion Bill, was still considered
the chief prop and ornament of the Whigs. Brougham, who
now held himself out as the head of the anti-Slavery party,
was desirous of taking to himself all the merit of the last
bill ; but he certainly had very little to do with it, and in
the Cabinet he warmly opposed the pecuniary grant to the
masters of the slaves, which turned out to be a poor com-
pensation to them for what they had lost. The bill, in its
results, cannot be much boasted of or rejoiced in ; for, while
it has been seriously injurious to the cultivation of the soil
in the West Indies, I fear it has not improved the condition
of the negroes ; and wiser plans might have been adopted
for conferring upon them, along with freedom, the blessings
of industry, knowledge, and religion.
The novelty of the Chancellorship being now over,
Brougham found the duties of an equity Judge rather
irksome, and he wished for some change in his situation,
but could not make up his mind what it should be. He
often talked of becoming "Minister of Justice," till the
difficulties which obstructed the creation of such an office
proved to be insurmountable. Its emoluments, patronage,
precedence, and ^jrestige likewise must have been much in-
ferior to those enjoyed with the Grreat Seal. If he was
believed to compose, or to suggest, or to rejoice in the daily
paragraphs still puffing him in the ' Times,' it might have
been conjectured that he wished to be written up to the Pre-
miership, for this journal, not praising Lord Grey or the other
members of the Cabinet, and occasionally levelling severe
sarcasms at some of them, held up the Chancellor to constant
admiration, not only for his eloquence and his legal lore, and
his literary and scientific acquirements, but for his unri-
valled talents as a statesman.
About this time he resented in a very marked manner
what he considered a piece of impertinence in H. R. H. the
Duke of Cumberland, afterwards King of Hanover. While
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 421
»
the Chancellor was addressing the House very calmly and CHAP,
very much to the purpose, the Duke called out " Question, '
Question." Chancellor in furore. — " I ask your Lordships a.d. 1833.
whether there is decency in that call?" Not contented 28th July.
with this expression of resentment, he lay by for an oppor-
tunity of still further punishing the royal delinquent, and
soon after, speaking on the Slavery Abolition Bill, he
said : —
" It would give the man of colour as clear a right to sit in I4th A;g,
that house (if his Majesty should so please) as either of the
illustrious Dukes now present [Wellington and Cumberland],
w^hether the illustrious Duke who is illustrious by his deeds, or
the illustrious Duke who is illustrious by the courtesy of the
House."
Meanwhile he continued to work on very industriously in Brougham
the judicial business of the House of Lords. His early c"^! business
trainino- e^ave him a considerable advantajre in dealins: with of the House
o o
of Lords.
Scotch appeals, and he was by no means in the bewildering
position of his successors, Pepys, Truro, and Cranworth, who
were suddenly called upon to review the decisions of the
Supreme Court of Scotland, never in their lives having been
concerned in a Scotch cause or read a word of Scotch law.
They, as their safer course, were driven to affirm — but he, to
show his skill, was rather pleased to reverse; and he con-
tinued to give offence by sarcastic observations on the Lords
of Session, so that in the Parliament House at Edinburgh
there were serious complaints of his rashness.
In the Court of Chancery, where he was quite a novice, in the Com t
he had counted upon support and assistance from Home,
now Attorney General, an equity counsel of some reputation,
whom, with this view, he had appointed a law officer of the
Crown ; but that speculation turned out most unfortunate.
Mr. Attorney was opposed by Sugden, a Tory lawyer in-
finitely superior to him in capacity and acquirement, and
eager, for personal and political reasons, to expose the inex-
perience of the Whig Lord Chancellor. One contest between
them, in which the learned counsel was compared by the
Lord High Cliancellor in plain terms to a hug, gave rise to
many newspaper paragraphs and many caricatures, and is
422 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. jjQ^ sometimes alluded to wlien he has become an ex-
Chancellor.*
A.D. 1833. Brougham was so eager for the glory of clearing off all
arrears that he would sit at unjuridical times — on Good
Friday or Easter Monday — and in the evenings, after the
House of Lords had adjourned. On these occasions he was
not supposed to make good speed, and, while the counsel
were arguing, the Judge's spirit was supposed, from his shut
eyes and depending head, to be wandering in the land of
Nod. I cannot say that I ever saw him asleep in all my
life ; but, by way of secondary evidence, I have seen in the
print-shops an engraving representing a strong likeness of
him in the " marble chair" overpowered by slumber, with
the words underneath, quandoque dormitat.
His labours, judicial and political, being closed for the
season, he repaired to Brougham Hall, and an absurd para-
graph having appeared in a London newspaper representing
him as an opium eater, to subdue certain pains from which
he suffered, and stating that in travelling to Westmorland
he had slept fifty successive hours, he thought it worth while
to make his brother write a letter to be published, saying : —
" The Chancellor has no pains of any kind ; he never took
laudanum or opium in any way whatever in the whole course
of his life ; he is enjoying the very best health, and no man of
his age is more likely to live thirty years. And as for the story
of his sleeping fifty hours, I was with him, and he did not sleep
five hours the whole way."
Broughiim's "jj^g \oxi& Vacation of this vear he professed to devote to
philosophi- . iT-v- • ^ • m 1
cai pursuits philosophy. Duong a sojourn at his Tusculum in Westmorland
ceiior "" ^® ^^^ compose some dialogues in imitation of Cicero's, and
he had some communication with Sir Charles Bell respecting a
new edition of Paley's ' Natural Philosophy,' with cuts and illus-
trations. At this time he was most potently persuaded that
while holding the Great Seal and discharging all the duties of
Chancellor with unprecedented efficiency, he should be able
* The 'Times' of 28th July, 1832, suggested another comparison not quite
so contemptuous for this enemy of the Lord Chancellor: Has Sir Edward
Sugden no friend to tell him that the cock-sparrow cannot contend with the
eagle ?
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 423
to give to tlie world a new work Avhich would eclipse the CHAP.
'Novum Organum.' He not unreasonably expected that his '
tenure of office would be long, and he could reckon with a.u. 1835.
absolute certainty on his own energy and perseverance.
It would appear from successive defences of character and
conduct which appeared in the ' Times,' that he began to be
considerably annoyed by attacks in the ' Quarterly Keview '
and other periodicals. We find in the leading journal an
article headed, ."Unjust charges against the Chancellor
triumphantly refuted," and such observations as this : —
" We really pity these Tory slanderers, who must be almost
suffocated with baffled malice and overwhelming shame."
" The violent abuse of the Chancellor is said to be by two
briefless barristers, Avho write negro-fashion, under the scourge
of the whipper-in. The result is impotent rage and pointless
slander. An eminent law authority superintends the operation."
This was supposed to mean Lord Lyndhurst. Notwith-
standing their subsequent strict alliance, the two noble and
learned friends were now at mortal enmity. I had about
this time the honour to be counsel for the Chancellor in a
frivolous action for false imprisonment brought against him
by a pettifogging attorney of the name of Dicas, who had
been regularly committed to the Fleet in the course of a
Chancery suit. The trial came on before Lord Lyndhurst as
Chief Baron, and he strove hard to obtain a verdict for the
plaintiff, but could not contrive to do so. I must confess,
however, that he seemed less actuated by malice than a love
of fun, for he seemed to think that there would be much
laughter if the great Lord Brougham, the Whig Lord Chan-
cellor, should be found to have unlawfully deprived a freeman
of his liberty, and a jury should award damages against him,
were it only a farthing.
Brougham now suffered a heavy loss by the death of his
brother James, who had, without any of the brilliancy of the
Chancellor, possessed much more prudence and discretion.
He had been called to the English bar, but did not regularly
follow the profession of the law. For some years past he had
acted as a sort of private secretary to the Chancellor, and
had great influence over him. To his death many ascribed
424 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP, the fantastical acts and tlie misfortunes which soon after
V.
' marked the Chancellor's career, but I doubt whether anv-
A.D. 1833. thing could have saved this misguided man from the prompt-
ings of the evil genius which he carried about with him in his
own breast, and which was ever ready to lead him astray.
He was blessed, however, with one counteracting influence,
the love of kindred, which he ever strongly felt, and, guided
by which, he was ever ready to be kind and generous. On
this occasion he was deeply affected, and he paid to a very
large amount all the debts of his deceased brother.
His dispute When Michaelmas term came round the Chancellor's great
the Attor- ' object was to get rid of Home as Attorney General. His in-
ney Gene- capacity to conduct some state trials for libel which were
coming on was given as a pretext, but the true motive was to
withdraw him from the Court of Chancery, and to substitute
for him, as the equity law officer, Pepys, a consummate
equity lawyer, and much better qualified to enter the lists
against Sugden.
The transaction at first appeared to proceed very smoothly.
I received a note from the Ciiancellor announcing that I was
Attorney General, Home having agreed to become a puisne
Baron of the Exchequer, on the resignation of Baron Bayley.
But meeting Home soon after, he thus addressed me : —
" I have been shamefully deceived and ill-used. Brougham
asked me to become a puisne Judge. I said, 'there is an
insurmountable obstacle. I have conscientious scruples about
pronouncing sentence of death, and therefore I cannot go the
circuit or sit in a criminal court.' * Never mind that,' cried
Brougham, ' you accept the appointment, and you shall never
go the circuit or sit in a criminal court. We are going to
remodel the Court of Exchequer. There will be a puisne
Baron confined entirely to equity business, and you shall be
the man.' On these terms I could not refuse, for such a
Baron of the Exchequer would be the same as a Vice-
Chancellor. I went to take leave of Lord Grey — a proper
mark of respect as I thought — and I said to him, ' I was glad
that the Government had resolved to remodel the Court of
Exchequer, and to have an equity Baron, an office I was
glad to accept, although I never could have acted as a
LIFE OF LOKD BROUGHAM. 425
criminal Judge.' ' Equity Baron ! ' exclaimed Lord Grey, CHAP.
' it is the first time I have heard of such an arrangement, and '
I cannot say that the Cabinet, much less that Parliament, a.d. 1833.
will sanction it. I understood from the Chancellor that you
wished to become a puisne Judge in the common course,
without any special stipulations ; and I confess for one, I do
not understand a puisne not being ready to discbarge all the
duties of the office.' Then," continued Home, " I told him
plainly and distinctly and literally all that had passed
between me and the Chancellor on the subject. Lord Grey
observed, * This is wondrous strange, but I think it my duty to
warn you that you ought not to accept the appointment upon
a supposed pledge that the Government will do what you say
the Chancellor promised,' Now, my dear Campbell, you and
I have always acted cordially together. I can throw no blame
upon you, whatever may happen. Would you mind going to
the Chancellor and hearing what he says about it ? " 1 went.
Brougham assured me that he had never given any pledge upon
the subject ; that Home was under an entire delusion ; that
having said something about disliking circuit-?, he had merely
been told that perhaps the other Judges might make some
arrangement to relieve him from this duty; but that there
never was any contemplation to legislate upon the subject, and
that Home having agreed to resign the office of iittorney
General, the good of the service required that he should do so.
I refused to be the bearer of any such message to him, and
vowed that I would in no way farther interfere in the affair —
a vow which I most rigidly observed, after I had told Home
that he must settle the dispute with the Chancellor himself,
or find another negotiator. The result was that Brougham
persuaded Lord Grey to concur in his views, and an intima-
tion was given to Home that the King's pleasure had been
taken upon the point, and that he must either resign the
office of Attorney General or be superseded. Home replied
with great spirit that he was ready to resign, but that he
would sooner suffer death himself than pronounce sentence of
death upon a fellow-creature. His resignation was accepted,
and, refusing the puisne Judgeship, he retreated on his private
practice at the bar, which was very inconsiderable.
426 EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. I knew nothino; more of the affair till I received a note
V
' from Brougham desiring me to meet him. at his private room
A.D. 1834. in Lincoln's Inn Hall. I found Sir John Bayley with him,
executing the resignation of his office of puisne Baron. He
said to me : — " I could make nothing of that foolish fellow
Home. I am sorry for his hallucination, but the King
has signed the warrant for your appointment as Attorney
General, and Pepys is your Solicitor."
Home complained to every one that Brougham had
swindled him out of his office. My only consolation was that
while some blamed Brougham, and some blamed Home, and
some blamed both, I did not on this occasion incur even a
suspicion of any intrigue to push out my predecessor.*
4th Feb. Before this affair was brought to a conclusion another
Session of Parliament had begun ; an eventful session, the
conclusion of which saw Brougham presiding on the wool-
sack for the last time, notwithstanding all his manceuvres to
strengthen his position and to prolong his power.
Brougham's It opened very inauspiciously in the House of Commons
Sir John ^ ^itli discussions on the Pension List, which damaged the
Campbell popularity of the Whig Government still more than the Irish
thrown out Cocrcion Bill. A writ was ordered for the election of a new
at Dudley, j^embcr for Dudley on the same evening, when, " amidst loud
and general cheers," notice was given of a renewed motion on
the abuses of the Pension List. I expressed to Brougham great
apprehensions tlmt I might be rejected at Dudley, although
my constituents, when I had visited them in the preceding-
autumn, had come to a unanimous vote approving of my
conduct as their representative. He laughed me to scorn,
telling me to trust to the prestige which the Government had
acquired. He added, " The electors are not to be blown about
by every wind of doctrine ; but I advise you not to flatter
them too much, lest your praises should be thought to be
«Vowical."
In my next interview with him, at the end of six days, I
* When Lord Cottenham became Chancellor, Home willingly accepted
from him the humble office of Master in Chancery. He was afterwards
reconciled to Brougham, but what explanation passed between them I never
learned.
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 427
had to relate to liim that I had been dreadfully beaten,— chap.
that the electors of Dudley were all exasperated against '
the " base and bloody Whigs," who, having surrendered a.d. 1834.
Ireland to martial law, now, by defending the Pension List,
showed a determination to devote the public revenue raised
by the sweat of the people to the support of the poor relations
of wealthy Peers, and to perpetuate all the corrupt practices
which had prevailed before the moeh Reform Bill. He behaved
very magnanimously, saying: — "Well, Jack, it is a heavy
blow. Who could have looked for this Dudley hallucina-
tion ? But never mind, it's no fault of yours. We shall, I
hope, soon get you in for another place — where, I don't yet
exactly see. Till you are restored, my law reforms are
stopped, for no one else can carry them through the House
of Commons for me. We already feel that Schedule A, from
which such glory was acquired, is not without its incon-
veniences." *
The Lord Chancellor himself undertook the task of ar-
ranging a seat for Mr. Attorney, and we had several con-
ferences on the subject with Charles Wood, now First Lord of
the Admiralty — then Secretary to the Treasury and whipper-
in for the Housfe of Commons ; but the difficulty was found
greater than had been anticipated, for popular constituencies
were perilous, and the scandal of showing that the Whigs had
reserved a few nomination seats to themselves was to be
avoided.
In the mean time great alarm was created by a bill of a How he
very preposterous nature upon the Law of Libel, brought speech 'for
into the House of Commons by O'Connell. He was then very ti'e s^iici-
hostile to the Government, and his object was to propose
enactments ad captandum, such as putting an end to all pro-
ceedings by " information," whether under the authority of
the Attorney General or the Court of King's Bench, — so that
the " base and bloody Whigs " might be still farther damaged
* He did not then tell me that he had opposed the wholesale disfranchise-
ment of the small boroughs, but he afterwards made no secret of this ; and I
have repeatedly heard him in the House of Lords declare that " from the
Attorney General being thrown out of Parliament in 1834, legal reform was
stopped for a whole sesaLon,"
428 REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
CHAP. \)y being driven to oppose wliat lie called " salutary reform,"
' Brougham being then very unwell, a meeting of the Cabinet
A.D. 1834. was held at his house in Berkeley Square, which was attended
by the Attorney and Solicitor General. The result of their
deliberations Avas, that instead of attacking General O'Connell
in front, there should be a flank movement which would
effectually defeat him. A motion was to be made for
a Committee to inquire into the "Law of Libel." The
difficulty was that this motion could, under existing cir-
cumstances, only be made by Mr. Solicitor, and he having
spent his life in drawing " bills and answers," professed an
entire ignorance of the subject. Brougham then, in a
very lucid manner, stated the topics to be treated, the
manner of treating them, and the order in which they should
be introduced, and — Mr. Solicitor still looking unhappy — he
added, " Should you like to have a sketch upon paper of
your speech?" This offer was gratefully accepted, and the
Chancellor, though in a very weak state of health and with
judgments in arrear which he was very desirous of writing,
must have employed some hours in preparing a brief for Mr.
Solicitor. This learned functionary, when the evening for his
motion arrived, delivered a speech on the Law of Libel which
called forth cheers and applauses from all sides of the House.
But, the Committee being granted, the subject dropped for
the Session ; and, as he never again spoke in the House of
Commons so as to attract notice, if he had not been destined
to immortality as Lord High Chancellor and Earl of Cotten-
ham, he might have gone down to future ages as " Single-
Speech Pepys." *
After some months had expired a vacancy at last occurred
at Edinburgh by the elevation of Lord Advocate Jeffrey to
the Scottish Bench, and Lord Grey said to me, " You must
try your luck there ; but first get the sanction of the Lord
Chancellor, or the fat will le in the fire." The Lord Chancellor
approved, and condescended to give me some valuable advice
for conducting my canvass.
* See 22 Hansard, 410. I linve always thought this speech one of
Brougham's most wonderful exploits. No one else would have ventured to
cram a law officer of the Crown, or could have done it so fulicitously.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 429
When I had been about eight days in Edinburgh I was CHAP,
knocked out of bed at four in the morning and told that a ^'
King's messenger liad arrived from London with a letter from a.d. 1834.
the Lord Chancellor, which I must read immediately. I have Secession of
not preserved it, but I believe that it ran as follows :— fhreeTthe?
" Dear Jack,— Ned Stanley, Graham, Eichmond, and Eippy ^^^^^"^^ ^''
have left us. But be not alarmed. We shall go on better
without them. This you must inculcate upon the modern Athe-
nians. Persevere. I really believe that we are safe. You shall
know all when we meet.
" Yours, H. B."
The messenger likewise brought a letter from the Secretary
to the Treasuiy stating that the Colonial Secretary, the First
Lord of the Admiralty, the Postmaster-General, and the
President of the Board of Trade, had resigned — that all the
other members of the Cabinet remained steady, and that in
this crisis everything might depend upon carrying Edinburgh.
At dawn of day there was a handbill posted all over the city,
congratulating the electors on the secession of the fugitive
Ministers, and extolling those who remained true to the cause
of freedom — particularly the Lord Chancellor, who, born and
bred among them, reflected such credit on his " own romantic
town."
When I returned to London victorious, ho complimented
me on having saved the State ; but he did not enter into any
particulars of the disruption of the Cabinet, and I have never
heard from any authentic source what part he personally took
upon this occasion. From the sj^eech then delivered by him
in the House of Lords, as reported in Hansard,* he appears to
have been quite sound and rational on the vexed " Appro-
priation Clause."
"I agree," said he, " in thinking that not one shilling of any 6tli June,
surplus fund arising from the revenues of the Protestant Church Biouchani
in Ireland should be appropriated to any other purpose, imtil "",„ '^,f ""'"
the spiritual wants of the Protestant community have been fully Cluuchpio-
provided for. That having been done on a liberal, even an P^'*^'
extravagant scale, what man is there with audacity to state that
the residue of the fund may not bo fitly applied towards the
* 24 Hansard, 298.
430
EEIGN OF WILLIAM IV'.
A.D. 1834,
Resignation
of Lord
Grey.
CHAP, moral and religious instructiou of the rest of the people. In
" determining what is ample provision for religious worship,
must the number of those to join in that worship be wholly
kept out of view ? Let me suppose that there should cease to
be any members of the Established Church in Ireland, instead
of there being, as at present, a small minority of the population
attached to it. This you say is an extreme case, but it is by
putting an extreme case that principles are best tried. If all
the inhabitants of Ireland should be Eoman Catholics or Presby-
terians, must we still keep up the full Protestant Episcopalian
Establishment ? The leader of this secession from the Cabinet,
by his own Irish Church Temporalities Bill, allows that you
may make any redistribution of the property of the Protestant
Church, according to the spiritual wants of different localities ;
and, when all tlaese have been amply satisfied, to deny the power
of the State to apply any surplus which remains to the general
education of the people, or to any other laudable national pur-
pose, is rank superstition and mischievous folly."
The religious question being disposed of, and Lord Grey
having filled up the vacancies in his Cabinet by subordinate
adherents devoted to the policy he was pursuing, it was ex-
pected that his Government would now be famous for unity
of action, and that he would long remain in office to enjoy his
triumph over inveterate Tories and mutinous Whigs. But in
a little month he finally fell, or in his own language " de-
scended," from power.
Lord Grey himself suspected, and his family openly asserted,
that he was betrayed by Brougham, who, wishing to be Prime
Minister, originated and fostered the intrigues which produced
this catastrophe. I believe this charge to be unfounded.
That Brougham's ambition made him aspire to the " bad
eminence " I do not doubt ; and that his opinion of his own
talents and acquirements led him into the delusion that he
was as well qualified for it as Burleigh, Godolphin, Walpole,
Pitt the father or Pitt the son, is not improbable; but he
could not be unconscious of the truth that he was regarded
with dislike by the King, — what was worse, that the leaders
of the Liberal party reposed no confidence in him and would
not agree to serve under him, — and, worst of all, that the
popularity which had made him representative for the county
of York had been nearly destroyed by the strange course
LIFE OF LORD ItUOUOHAM. -l.'!!
wliicli on scvorjil (K-ciisioiis ho Inul niiisncd. 'riicrcrorc lln> «'IIA1\
notion (if liis l)cin«>j first TiOnl of tlic 'I'lfiisiiry can linnlly n(, '
(his lime have taken ])().ss(>sHion of his mind. r.u(, allliou^h a.d. 18;m.
lie had no wish forcihly tofhsphico Lord ( ircy, ovsyst(MnaticnJIy
to annoy him so as (o in(hicc him to retire in disgust, lio cor-
ttiinly was a very tididilcsome and nin'omCorlahh' eolh'a'^ne —
constantly nrraspinp^ al power and patronajre thai, did not
lei,dtimat(dy helong to tho olhec winch he h( Id.
Lord drey liad heen much aniu)y('d hy tho insatiahh*
demands of thc^ idtra-luidieuls, who, instead of te hy hidlot,
the shoi'tcnin^ of purliaTnents, the fni'llnir (extension of lli(»
Buffrafjre, and ornjaiiic (•han;^;es in the lloiiso of Lords. All
this lio could hav(( eomhaied ; hut. llm eonslani IVcHinir
caused hy tlin insnhordination and a^^i^M-eHsivo sjiiril of an
cver-restless eolleaj^jue ho found insupportahh', uiid he had
expressed and f(dt a (h'sire to wilhdraw iido private lif(»
almost, from the assemhlin^ of the lirsl, L'cloinicd i'arlia,-
ment in the spring of IH'Mi. lie was not Ihrn aware
of what, li(! ufterwards exj)eri }
be Kadicai. Lord Lyndhui'st, and the Tories. They accused us of a
disposition to revolutionize both Church and State from the
proposed measure about Church Bates, and the practical
admission of Roman Catholics to a fair share of power and
patronage in Ireland, whereas Brougham still denounced us
as Reactionaries, Finalists, and Mock Reformers, because we
resisted for the present any farther organic change. Being
taunted by Lord Melbourne for his bitter oj)position to those
with whom he had so long acted, and whom he had so zealously
patronised in the year 1835, when he was no longer in office,
and they were pursuing the same policy as at present, he
insisted that they had diverged, while he was marching
straioht forward.
"O'
" My Lords," said he, " I indignantly and peremptorily deny
that the motive or principle of my conduct is changed. But I
know that the changed conduct of others has compelled me to
oppose them in order that I may not change my own principles.
Do the Ministers desire to know what will restore me to their
support, and make me once more fight zealously in their ranks,
as I once fought with them against the majority of your Lord-
ships ? I will tell them. Let them retract their declaration
against Eeform, or, without any retractation, only bring forward
liberal and constitutional measures, and they will have no more
zealous supporter than myself. But in the mean time I hurl
defiance at the head of my accuser — I repeat it— I hurl at his
head this defiance — I defy him to point out any, the slightest,
indication of any one part of my public conduct having even for
one instant been affected in any manner of way by feelings of a
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 489
private and personal nature, or "been regulated by any one consi- CHAP.
deration except the sense of what I owe to my own principles and '
to the interests of the country."* TTZT
•^ A.D. 1838.
It is possible that he had worked himself into the belief
that lie was acting consistently and from purely disinterested
motives ; but, if so, he stood alone in this belief, for all the
rest of mankind agreed that revenge was the main-spring
of bis conduct, and that his only consideration was how he
might most spite and damage those by whom he had been
ill used. The Radicals making great play against the
Government by the opposition which Ministers offered to the
ballot — although he was one of the framers of the Reform
Bill who had peremptorily objected to the proposal of his
colleagues Lord Durham and Sir James Graham to admit
the ballot, and so late as his famous Scottish " Progress,"
complaining of the unreasonable Radicals, he had intimated
an opinion that rather too much had been done in the way
of innovation — he now expressly recommended the ballot,
and told the Lords that —
" unless their Lordships made up their minds either to this mea-
sure, or some measure of this sort, for the protection of e'ectors,
it woiild be carried against them. The time appeared to him to
be come when something must be done. The sooner, therefore,
their Lordships made up their minds to some such measure as
this, the better it would be for them." "j"
The Tories did not vocally cheer, but they showed by their
radiant countenances and sparkling eyes with what delight
they heard observations which had such a tendency to dis-
parage the Whigs, to deprive the Government of Liberal
support, and to accelerate their own return to power.
Although they and their irregular ally appeared on oj)posite
sides of the House, there was between them, during the
debate, a quick interchange of nods and winks and wreatlied
smiles, followed by much approving raillery and cordial gra-
tulation when the debate was over.
The great practical measure of this Session was the Bill Canada Bill.
for the Better Government of the Canadas. There had been
an open rebellion in Lower Canada, and its Legislative As-
* 40 Hansard, 692. t Ibid., 1220'.
490
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. 1838.
Brougham
denounces
the Whigs
as having
become
courtiers.
seinbly had thrown off allegiance to the English Crown.
The insurgents had been defeated, and tranquillity had been
restored ; but a change in the mode of ruling the colony
was universally allowed to be indispensable, and there was a
necessity for conferring extraordinary powers on Lord Durham,
who in the emergency had patriotically agreed to go out as
Governor. Even the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lynd-
hurst concurred in the principle of the bill, although they
censured some of its details. But Brougham furiously opposed
the bill, and every clause of it, — his animosity on this occa-
sion being sharpened by a special grudge fostered by him
against Lord Durham, who in the year 1834 had charged
him with having become a very cool Reformer, and " little
better than a Conservative."
In a great speech upon the subject which, according to
his custom, he published as a pamphlet, with a Preface
praising himself and vilifying others, he gave a narrative of
the measures of the Government at home to meet the spirit
of insubordination in Canada, and he thus censured their
inaction in the summer of 1837 : —
" It would seem that just about this time some wonderful
change had come over the minds of the Ministers, depriving them
of their memory, and lulling even tlieir senses to repose — that
something had happened which cast them into a sw^eet slumber —
a deep trance — such as physicians tell us not only suspends all
recollection uf the past, but makes men impervious to impiessions
from surrounding objects through the senses. Could this have
arisen from the deep grief into which my noble friend and his
colleagues were known to have been plunged by the decease of
their kind and generous master ? No duubt that feeling must ha^'^e
had its day — or its hour — but it passed swiftly away ; it is not in
the nature of grief to endure for ever. Then how came it that
the trance continued ? Was it that the decease of one monarch
is necessarily followed by the accession of another? Ob, doubt-
less its pleasing endurance must have been caused by the eleva-
tion of their late gracious master's illustrious successor — pro-
longing the suspension of the faculties which grief had brought
on — but clianging it into that state, inexpressibly delicious, which
was suited to the circumstances so interesting of the new reign ;
or could it be that the Whig party having for near a hundred
years been excluded from the banquet of ro}al favour, and now
A.D. 1838.
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 491
sitting down to tlie ricli repast with an appetite the growth of a CHAP.
century's fast, were unable to divert their attention from so plea-
surable and unusual an enjoyment to mere vulgar matters of public
duty, and bring their faculties, steeped in novel delight, to bear
upon points so distant as Canada — affairs so trivial as the tranquil-
lity of the most important province of the Crown and the peace
of this countiy — perhaps of the world ? All these inconsider-
able interests being in jeopardy, were they insufficient to awaken
our rulers from their luxurious stupor ? . . . . They rush
unheeding, unhesitating, unreflecting, into resolutions upon which
the wisest and readiest of mankind could hardly pause and ponder
too long. But when all is determined — when every moment's
delay is fraught with peril — then comes uncertainty and irresolu-
tion. They never pause till the season has arrived for action,
and when all faltering, even for the twinkling of an eye, is fatal,
then it is that they relapse into supineness and inactivity — look
around them and behind them, and everywhere but before them,
and sink into repose as if all had been accomplished at the mo-
ment when everything remains to be done. If I were to ransack
all the records to which I have ever had access of human conduct
in administering great affairs, whether in the annals of our own
times or in ages that are past, I should in vain look for a more
striking illustration of the Swedish Chancellor's famous saying to
his son, departing to assist at a congress of statesmen, ^ I, fili mi,
ut videos quantuld sapientid regatur munclus.' " *
This somewhat cumbrous jocularity may have been pro-
duced by pure patriotism, but I must confess it seems to me
rather an ebullition of envy, and that the pseudo-patriot was
resenting his own exclusion from the luxurious banquet spread
for the famished Wliigs at the accession of Queen Victoria.
He had spoken early in the evening, and as soon as he
finished he went home to meet a party of dependents whom
he had invited to hear his speech, and to dine with him.
His absence from the House was severely animadverted
upon by those who followed in the debate. Lord IMelbourne
spoke of " the torrent of invective and sarcasm with whicli
the noble and learned Lord had overwhelmed the officers of
her ]\Iajesty's Government, and that most laboured and most
extreme concentration of bitterness which liad been poured
forth on this occasion." Lord Glenelg, whom he had per-
* 40 Hansard, 202-207.
492 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, sonally attacked, joined in the regret that the noble and
' learned Lord had been pleased to remove from the scene of
A.D. 1838. action. " Ahiif, evasit, erupit. Having vented his thunder-
bolts with no sparing hand, he shows that he is capable, like
the thnuderer, of veiling himself in clouds." *
At the sitting of the House the following evening. Brougham
attempted to reply to these observations, pleading indispo-
sition as the cause of his absence.t But I have repeatedly
known him follow the same course when he did not mean to
call for a division. If he had divided against the Canada
Bill he would have had only two other peers to go below
the bar along with him. They contented themselves, after
opposing it in every stage by speeches, with entering a protest
on the Journal against it. \
The Canada question recurred in various shapes till the
very end of the Session, and kept Brougham in constant
employment. He had a prodigious triumjjh in an illegal
act of Lord Durham, professing to be under a power of making
ordinances for the good government of the colony. The
Governor General had banished to Bermuda certain persons
concerned in a rebellious insurrection. Now, although he
might have ordered them to be hanged in Canada, he could
not lawfully order them to be imj)risoned out of Canada.
Brougham denounced this excess of jurisdiction as a most
horrible outrage. His law was good, but he could not be
justified in magnifying the small slip of the Governor General
into a great crime. Elated with this success, he went on
to contend that all Lord Durham's ordinances were unlawful,
and he laid down various propositions, both with respect to
common law and the construction of Acts of Parliament,
which were wholly untenable. But neither the Lord Chan-
cellor nor the Master of the Kolls would venture to contradict
him, and Lyndhurst cunningly observed that, concurring in
the illegality of the banishment to Bermuda, he thought it
more prudent to abstain from giving any opinion upon the
other legal points mooted by his noble and learned friend.
* 40 Hansard, 243. t Ibid., 249. J Ibid., 886.
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 493
From the beginning to the end of this Session, Lyndhurst CHAP.
made it a rule to remain silent during the debate, finding: it
a more convenient course privately to incite Brougham and a.d. i838.
to praise him.
In addition to his old annual bills on education, charities,
and other subjects, Brougham now launched a new one — to
give to his Judicial Committee the power of extending copy-
right to authors when the statutable term has expired ; but
as it was universally scouted, he allowed it to drop after the
first reading, and he has never again brought it forward.
Such a discretionary power to tamper with the rights of indi-
viduals and of the public could not be endured in a free
country.
^Yhile Parliament was sitting and he was speaking so Brougham's
copiously, Brougham wrote more than could be expected from ^^ith^his
a laborious professional bookmaker who never rises from his pe°- ,
desk. Besides revised editions of his speeches, he indited
many articles in newspapers, magazines, and reviews, and he
brought out several pamphlets to gratify his spleen against
the Court and the aristocracy.
He likewise most usefully and laudably employed himself
as President of the Society of Useful Knowledge. Under his
auspices this Society flourished much for several years, and,
selling excellent treatises at a low price, was of essential
service to the middle and lower orders. Its most successful
publications were the ' Penny Magazine ' and the ' Penny
Cyclopaedia.' The latter, from having often consulted it, I
can pronounce a very valuable addition to any library. But Brougham's
the Society at last became bankrupt, and was obliged to be piji°osophv
dissolved for want of funds by publishing, at its own risk, and the
Lord Brougham's ' Political Philosophy,' the copyright of of the Use-
which he had very generously presented to the Society. This
I do seriously and sincerely think is a most excellent treatise, ciety,
and I have hond fide read it through with pleasure and ad-
vantage ; but I could never find more than one other person
who had undergone the same labour, and the fact was that
unaccountably it fell still-born from the press. Anticipating
a great sale from the reputation of the author, an edition of
ful Know-
led £ce So-
494
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. 1838.
The success
of his
' Sketches of
Statesmen.'
A.D. 1839.
several thousand bad been printed off, and tbey abnost all
went to tbe trunk-makers.* The Society bad been before in
pecuniary distress, and this blow proved its death.
Misfortunes never come single. Of Greek, Brougham, like
all others educated in Scotland, had only acquired a slender
knowledge. But he flattered himself that be thoroughly
understood, as well as relished, Demosthenes. In this belief
he ventured to publish a new translation, by himself, of the
' De Corona,' with notes. His ambitious temerity was dread-
fully punished ; for there came out critiques upon it — jiar-
ticularly an admirable one in the ' Times ' newspaper, by a
profound Grecian — which exposed him most unmercifully,
showing that in various instances he had mistaken the mean-
ing of the original, and that he was ignorant not only of the
niceties of the Attic dialect, but even of well-known facts in
Grecian history. Of all his literary failures this is the one
which he took most to heart.
But he might have been comforted by the brilliant success
of his ' Sketches of the Statesmen and Philosophers in the
Keign of George III.,' now begun, and published the following
year, when they at once seized the public attention. Here
he really was at home, and he wrote of men Avith whom he
had conversed, and whose merits and defects he was well able
to appreciate and to describe. The best of these sketches first
appeared in the ' Edinburgh Keview.' He afterwards repub-
lished them in volumes, with others of very inferior merit,
including such .characters as Frederick the Great, the Empress
Katheriue of Kussia, and Voltaire, with respect to whom he
could state no new facts, and his observations were either
vapid or fantastical.
When the Session of 1839 arrived. Brougham continued to
speak from the ministerial side of the House ; but he now in
all parliamentary tactics openly and avowedly coalesced with
the Opposition, for the purpose of expelling the Government.
He no longer confined himself to speeches which might indi-
rectly disparage tbe Whigs and bring them into public odium,
* I have been told that the hook had much better success in Germany, and
that a German translation of it was in great demand for two successive
Leipsic fairs.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. -11)5
but, throwing out now and then a little bit of innocent Radi- CHAP.
. "VI
calism, he earnestly and vigorously made or seconded motions ____1^
in concert with the Tory leaders. What his hopes or wishes a.d. 1839.
then were, in contemplation of a change of Ministers, I am
unable to conjecture. Perhaps he did not look farther than
the full gratification of his blind reveno-e.
When he least expected it the long-desired consummation Ministerial
seemed to have arrived. The Government had been going on
very smoothly in the Lords. The Duke of Wellington declared
to those in his confidence that he had felt rather uncomfortable
in 1835, when Peel was Prime Minister ; that he would not
be at all gratified by seeing such a state of things restored ;
and as the Queen preferred the Whigs, that he had no objec-
tion to their remaining in office if he could induce them to be
tolerably moderate in their measures of reform. He had,
therefore, discountenanced the intrigues between Lyndhurst
and Brougham to precipitate a change of Government. But
in the Lower House, where, since the passing of the Reform
Bill, the Whigs had hitherto been strong, a measure on which
they staked their ministerial existence met with such opposi-
tion, that they deemed it decent and necessary to resign.
This was a bill for superseding the Legislative Assembly of
Jamaica, the second reading of Avhich was carried only by a
majority of five, although dying members, and members whose
near relatives were lying dead, were carried into the lobby to
make up this majority.
When Brougham heard Melbourne announce that on ac- 7th May.
count of what he considered the adverse division in the other Brougham's
House, her Majesty's Ministers had unanimously tendered
their resignation, and only held their offices till their succes- '"'^ °* ^^'''
sors were appointed, he manifested exuberant exultation, and
seemed to indicate that then to die would be happiness.
However, he decently tranquillised himself and magnani-
mously
" entreated their Lordships, who had tinder their care the morals,
the instruction, and the welfare of the people, not to allow any
mere party feeling, any temporary, and it may be only momentary,
gratification to interfere with their highest duty. He considered
his Bill for the liepeal of the Beer Act to be of more import-
siipposea
fall of M
bourne.
496
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. isng.
14th May.
Melbourne
restored.
31st May.
Brougham
on the Bed-
chamber
ladies.
ance tlian any change of ministiy ; and although, Tinder existing
circumstances, he would postpone the second reading, he should
persist, lolioever might hold the office of Prime Minister, in endea-
vouring to ohtain the repeal of a measure which he believed to
be permanently fraught with mischief to the character of the
country."
Alas ! he had used prophetic words. The exquisite " grati-
fication " which he felt proved to be " temporary " and
almost " momentary." By the clumsy mismanagement of Sir
Robert Peel in forming the new Government he failed, and
the Whigs remained in ofSce above two years longer.
Brougham, I believe, had an exjDectation during this crisis
that, although Lyndhurst must have had the Great Seal, some
high office would be offered to himself, who had so essentially
contributed to the victory. However, his disajDpointment in
this respect caused him little grief compared with what he
suffered from seeing the restoration of the Whig Cabinet,
from which he was ejected. At first he was so overpowered
that, to the astonishment of every one, he preserved a deep
silence during the whole of the evening when Lord Melbourne
announced his return to office, and explained how it arose
from a demand having been made upon the Queen that she
should dismiss all the ladies of her bedchamber. But when
the subject was revived by a question from Lord Winchelsea,
Brougham poured forth a torrent of virulent invective against
the Whigs, their supporters, the Ladies of the Bedchamber,
and the poor Queen. Said he : —
" The private, individual, personal feelings of that illustrious
Princess have been made the toj)ic of every riotous meeting, of
every mob, and of all the demagogues who have set to work to
prop a sinking Administration. Their only cry is the Queen ! the
Queen ! the Queen ! This is the bedchamber crisis. Sir Eobert
Peel's formation of a Government has been defeated by two ladies
of the bedchamber. From all I have ever heard or dreamed of,
I never expected to see any, and above all a Whig, Government
based on a bedchamber question — a question of personal feeling
towards the Sovereign. That is the ground for resuming office,
after a plain confession that they have lost the confidence of the
Commons. The confidence of your Lordships' house, alas ! the}^
never possessed. The Government have resumed office only
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 497
because the Queen has refused to dismiss two ladies of her bed- CHAP,
chamber. They stand by the Queen, without the confidence of
Parliament. Will this standing by the Queen get back public .^ng
confidence ? I do not believe a word of it. The attempt to pass a
falsehood on the nation has signally failed. Considering what an
inexperienced person the Queen is, it should be imputed to no fault
of her own. She has reigned barely two years. But those who are
about her are bound to inform her of the solemn responsibility
thrown upon her by the ancient and established principles of the
Constitution. There should be no force. Her feelings should be
treated with all imaginable tenderness. Even where she may
be wrong, every conceivable excuse should be made for her ; the
most profound respect and veneration of the most devoted cour-
tier should be shown ; but duty remains towering above all other
and pettier considerations. If the Crown fail, as fail it must, a
bad service will have been rendered by bad counsellors, bad
friends, bad flatterers, and worthless parasites. Let her not be
guided by mere lovers of place — wishing to keep place, or only
hungering and thirsting after it — whose appetencies have been
sharpened by possession, or to whose desire distance makes it
more sweet."
Thus continued to roll on almost interminably the turgid
stream of liis vituperative eloquence. Hansard says, and I
make no doubt truly, " The noble and learned Lord sat down
amid load and continued cheers from the Opposition benches."*
However, it seems that the ' Observer,' a Government news-
paper, in commenting upon this speech, had the audacity to
make observations, of Avhich Brougham thus complained to
the House of Lords as a breach of privilege : —
" ' PTe are compelled to state' says the libeller (now what com- Brougham
pelled a man to state a gross falsehood I cannot tell, except it complains
may be his nature), ' that there was not a single member of the House of juivilege
tvho did not leave it disgusted xcitJi the speech.' Not a single member ! j" '"^'"S ^''
My noble friend near me (Lord Melbourne) might feel disgusted ;
but certainly there were some besides myself who did not leave
the House from disgust."
He went on to complain of other statements, " that he had
shown an inveterate hatred to the monarchy and personal
disrespect to the Queen," which he solemnly disclaimed. He
* 47 Hansard, 11C4.
VOL. VIII. 2 K
498
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTOETA.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. 1839.
His grand
motion as
Leader of
the Tory
Opposition.
concluded without moving to send the libeller to Newgate, or
making any other motion.
All the Peers present remained silent except the Marquess
of Londonderry, an ultra-Tory Peer, Avho said that " although
the noble and learned Lord had long taken a line in politics
which the friends of the monarchy deplored, he had at last
made a speech which deserved to be received with universal
acclamation." * Such praise from such a quarter must have
suggested to the object of it the alarming question, whether,
notwithstanding his own consciousness of perfect consistency,
he might not have got into a false position. He really was
now defending for the Tories that of which they themselves
were ashamed. Peel made a blunder when he insisted on the
removal of all the ladies belonging to the household on a
change of Government ; and Peel himself afterwards said that
he only meant to stipulate for the poiver of doing so, without
meaning to exercise it. Unless the Ladies of the Bedchamber
were the Queen's constitutional advisers, it seems strange to
say that they must all be removed on every change of
Ministers. The j)i"iiiciple on which such a rule must rest
would go to the preposterous and revolting length of requiring
that in a female reign the Sovereign should liave a new
Consort as often as she has a new Prime Minister. This
liberty of retaining mere personal attendants, which Brougham
represented as so dangerous to public liberty, has been reserved
to the Queen, and has been exercised by her on similar oc-
casions ever since. Yet we still consider ourselves a free
people.
Prom the restoration of Lord Melbourne's Government,
Brougham may be considered the leader of the Opposition in
the House of Lords. Lyndhurst felt no jealousy of him, full
well knowing that his aid would be very useful in the assault,
and that the Treasury being stormed, he had no chance of
particijDating in the spoil.
At last Brougham brought forward a motion on which he
was promised the whole strength of the Opposition, and which
he thought must be fatal to the " Bedchamber Government."
47 Hansard, 1232.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 499
Certain iDolitical trials had been conducted in Ireland of no CHAP,
great importance, and, after conviction, certain of the de- '
fendauts had been pardoned upon facts disclosed after the ^.u. i839.
verdict. The charge against the Government was that the
Irish Attorney General had improperly conducted the prose-
cutions under instructions from the Government, and that
the pardons had been granted without the presiding Judge
having been consulted. The debate was ushered in by a
flourish of trumjDets, frequently repeated, to awaken public
attention. First came the intention to give notice of motion ;
then the notice of motion; then the postponement of the
notice ; then the further postponement and peremptory fixing
of it for a future day ; each accompanied with a long speech
proclaiming the importance of the motion, and shadowing forth
its probable consequences. When the portentous evening 6th Aug.
arrived, the orator had a very large assemblage of his friends,
male and female, in the House of Lords, to admire him, and
a Tory iclii^ had secui'ed a decided majority of Peers to vote
for him. I copy the prooemium from the " corrected report "
of his speech, which he published. It is so very laboured and
so highly finished, in his peculiar style, that it may, like the
famous peroration to his defence of Queen Caroline, have
been rewritten by him seventeen times. Confidently antici-
pating a majority, he thought that he had reached a memorable
epoch in the history of English party warfare, and he was
determined to show himself equal to this great argument.
Having slowly risen, solemnly looked round, and taken some
time to adjust, not his toga, but his Ettrick check trowsers, he
thus began : —
*' If, in addressing your Lordships, I looked only to the para-
mount — perhaps the unparalleled — importance of the case which
I am about to bring under your consideration, as it regards the
policy, the welfare, and the constitution of this country, I should
feel much less anxiety than I experience at this moment. But I
recollect that, unhappily for me, and perhaps unfortunately for
the question, it is one of which the indisputable importance is
even exceeded by the great interest which it excites ; I mean not
merely that natural, legitimate, and unavoidable interest which
it must raise amongst the people of the country to which it more
particularly relates— I allude not merely to the interest which it
2 K 2
500 EEIGN OP QUEEN VICTOEIA.
VI.
A.D. 1839.
CHAP, excites among your Lordships, as the guardians of the pure admi-
nistration of justice, you yourselves being supreme judges in a
court the mo.st distinguished in all the world ; but I am pointing
to the personal and the party feelings — the heats naturally kindled
among those who on the one hand may suppose that I stand here
as the accuser of an individual or of the Government, and amongst
those who, on the other hand, may conclude that the parties stand
here placed on their personal defence ; and worse than this, I
allude, with feelings of a truly painful nature, to that interest
which this question is calculated to raise, and which I wish that
any effort of mine could lull or delay — I may be supposed to
come forward for the purpose of lending myself to personal views,
and not merely in the discharge of an imperative public duty.
But if the experience which your Lordships have had of me,
while practising before you as a minister of justice at 3'our bar,
or as presiding, so far as any Peer can preside, over your judicial
proceedings in the House, — if the whole tenor of my not short
public life of 30 years and upwards (in which I have constantly
— it is perhaps rather the result of good fortune than ai'ising
from any merit of my own, by accident I might perhaps say,
without deviation or change, or shadow of a turning — proceeded
in the same course, and been guided steadily by the same uniform
principles) — if this gives your Lordships no pledge that I appear
on the present occasion only to discharge a public and a great
responsible duty, then what further pledge can I give, what more
can I say than this ? Mark how I, this day, perform the duty
which I have undertaken ; and then whosoever of the accusers
may be disappointed, or whosoever of those who are on their
defence may be chagrined — whatsoever j)arty feelings may be
excited, or whatsoever party objects may be frustrated by my
discharge of public duty, at least I shall be able to appeal to your
Lordships for my acquittal from the charge of having made my-
self, on this occasion, what I never did before, an engine of party
feeling or an instrument of personal attack." *
He then proceeded for three hours to detail his facts very
minutely and to read long extracts from printed evidence.
His dullness was only relieved by a few passing sarcasms on
old friends.t What he sought to prove was that the trials
* 49 Hansard, 1275. From a corrected report published by Eidgway.
t I ought to be a comjietent judge, for as Attorney General I was directed
to watch the speech, that I might give some hints to the Marquess of Nor-
manby, vrlio was to answer it.
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 501
liad been improperly conducted and that the defendants had CHAP,
been improperly pardoned, and he concluded with moving a ^^'
long string of inculpatory resolutions, the chief of wliich was, a.d. I839.
" that a convicted criminal ought not to be pardoned without
consulting the Judge by whom he was tried."
Lord Lyndhurst took no part in the debate, contenting
himself with hounding on his noble and learned friend. Lords
IS'ormanby and Melbourne ably opposed the resolutions, con-
tending that the Government had acted before, during and
after the trials, according to the well-known maxims of the
law and the constitution, and that the motion was a mere
ebullition of spleen and factiousness. Although Brougham
was informed by the Tory whippers-in that they had a large
majority who were impatient for the division, and that several
of their men, who had not been able to get pairs, could
liardly be prevailed upon to remain longer in the House,
he indulged in a very long reply, which he at last con-
cluded -svith another panegyric on his own consistency. Having
enumerated the good measures of the Government while he
belonged to it, he continued : —
" Moreover, I have uniformly adhered to one political party;
and if at the end of this long period I have found myself under
the j)ainful necessity of separating from my former political
friends, it has been not on personal but public grounds — it
lias been — it has notoriously been — not because I changed, but
because theyhaxe changed their course. When out of the govern-
ment, in 1835, I zealously supported them; in 1836 I abstained
from attendance that I might not embarrass them. But in 1839,
when they have utterly forgotten the veiy name as well as the
nature of ^Vh^gs, then of course my opposition became habitual,
and I heartily desired to see the end of their reign. These Whig
ministers under my noble friend, stripping off all decent covering,
without one rag of public principle of any kind, stand before the
country, naked, as mere courtiers, mere seekers of roj^al favour ;
and do not utter a single whisper to show that they have a single
principle in their contemplation save the securing a continuance
of their places by making themselves subservient creatures of the
palace."
Upon a division, the resolutions were carried by a majority
502 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, of 34— the numbers being 86 to 52. There were 39 pairs,
" several of which were arranged during the reply.* The vulgar
A.D. 18S9. custom of loud cheering on the announcement of a majority
Brougham's against the Government on a party question, which is prac-
^"^ "'^ tised in the Commons, was not now resorted to ; but Brougham
thouo-ht this division was tantamount to a vote of want of con-
fidence by one branch of the legislature, and as the other had
signified a similar sentiment by the division upon the Jamaica
Bill, he considered an immediate change of administration
certain. Without any assurance that he himself should be
included in the new arrangement, he was for tlie present con-
tented with being able to say, " I made Melbourne Minister,
and I have unmade him."
is fruitless. But he was again doomed to a cruel disappointment, for,
instead of the expected announcement next day in both
Houses of Parliament, " that Ministers had resigned, and only
held their offices till their successors should be appointed,"
not the slightest notice was taken of the vote upon Brougham's
motion, except by Lord John Eussell in the House of Com-
mons, who, after stating the Resolution about " pardoning or
commuting a sentence without consulting the judge who pre-
sided at the trial," said : —
" As this Eesolution affects the office which I hold [Secretary
of State for the Home Department], I must at once say that it pro-
poses a practice which is utterly inconsistent with that which has
hitherto been pursued by Secretaries of State in their recommen-
dations to the Crown, from which it would be exceedingly incon-
venient to depart, and in which it is not my intention to make
any alteration whatever. If it were a Bill instead of a Itesolut'wn,
and it had gained the consent of Parliament, then of course I
should be bound to obey it. But till the law is altered I shall
consider myself justified in following the practice which has been
hitherto pursued, not thinking that a vote of either Hoixse can
affect the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy." f
Thus the Resolution of the Lords was to be treated as
waste paper !
Brougham himself was the only man who had calculated
ori speedy effects from his victory. The division really
* 49 Hansard, 1275-1385. t 50 Hansard, 2.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 503
disclosed nothing more than what was before well known, — ■ CHAP.
YI
that in the House of Lords the Tories had a majority, which
they could command on any question which they deemed a.d. 1839.
it for the benefit of their party to carry, and the only novelty
in the last movement consisted in the Tories beinc: led on
by a new chief. The Government had been considerably
strengthened in the House of Commons by yielding to a
measure, of which the Eadicals ought to have the credit
and which has conferred immense social benefit upon the
world — the Uniform Penny Postage. Melbourne, instead
of being crushed, seemed to go on with renovated vigour.
At the conclusion of the Session, however, there was a
grand Review in the House of Lords when Brougham con-
descended to restore the chief command to Lyndhurst, but
cordially co-operated with him. Lyndhurst, according to
annual custom, compared the great things which ministers
had proposed by the Queen's opening speech with their dis-
comfiture in having the bills they brought in rejected.
Melbourne, in a very able speech, attempted to prove that
ministers had failed in carrying their measures by the fac-
tious opposition offered to them, and particularly instanced
the bill for reforming the Court of Admiralty.
" I cannot advert to it," he observed, "without saying that
a rejection of that bill by your Lordships was one of the most
disreputable and unprovoked acts of power that I ever knew to
be exercised. I deeply lament that the hand which destroyed
ought, in reason and right feeling, to have been stretched out to
save it."
This bill, which the public good most urgently required,
would have been of service to Lushington, the Judge of the
Court of Admiralty. Lushington had been Brougham's
bosom friend, and had co-operated with him in the defence of
Queen Caroline, but had grievously offended him by persevering
steadily, as Member for the Tower Hamlets, in supporting
the Melbourne Government. "Without Brougham's opposition
the Admiralty Court Bill, which passed quietly through the
Commons, would have passed as quietly through the Lords ;
for Lyndhurst, left to himself, would not have encountered
the odium which the loss of it would have cast upon his
504
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
VI.
A.D. 1839.
Brougham
as.sists
Lynrl hurst
in tl,e Re-
view of the
Session.
party. But Brougham opposed it as a " Whig job," and
vowed that he never would let it pass without a clause dis-
qualifying the Judge of the Court of Admiralty from sitting
in Parliament. This could not be agreed to by its sup-
porters, — partly from considerations personal to Lushington,
and, further, from a sincere belief that the respectability and
usefulness of the House of Commons would be materially
damaged by excluding from it those whose judicial duties do
not clash with the duties of a representative of the people,
and who may be of great service in the deliberations of the
Legislature from their knowledge of constitutional and inter-
national law.
Brougham, in answer to Melbourne, made a speech of
enormous length against the Whig Government, which, on
some points, he assailed with considerable success; but he
was sorely puzzled when he came to his defence on the
charge of throwing out the Admiralty Court Reform Bill ; and,
after some vague compliments to the learning and integrity of
Lushington, he condescended to insinuate that the Judge
prostituted liis judicial character by actively engaging in
political strife — " which no Judge ought to have the oppor-
tunity of doing " — although he himself was still acting as a
Judge in the morning by hearing ap}^)eals, and in the evening
was the zealous leader of a faction.* His new and most
telling topic was tlie conduct of the Grovernment in permit-
ting, for the purpose of pleasing the Eadicals, the " Ballot "
to be an open question. Now that he was a leader of Tories,
he rather wished to wash off the Eadical taint which he
had contracted while coquetting with the Eadicals. He had
taunted the Government with their supposed doctrine of
finality, and he now charged them with endano-erino- our
institutions by tampering with the Eeform Bill, while he
represented at the same time that they were hollow in their
Liberal professions, and only wished to deceive.
" The reason for making this an open question," said he,
* There is nothing more strange about Brougham than his seeming
forgetfulness in debate of the answer which he might be aware is sug-
gestmg itself to the mind of all who hear him, both as to his facts and his
reasoninsrs.
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 505
" was to hug it to death, to stifle and extinguish it. If it was CHAP.
made an open question, it might be less likely to be carried than ^^•
if it continued a close question ; it might be made open in order "
to be strangled. For all these omissions and misdeeds of the " "
Govei-nment is it wonderful that Eeformers should be hostile-
even rancorously hostile, in the exact proportion in wliich
Eeformers are heartily and sincerely attached to the cause of
Eeform ? ,
' Whigs are deceivers ever.
One foot on sea and one on shore.
To one thing constant never.'
But you now hear added what was never added before :
' Sigh not so.
But let them go.'"*
In spite of these invectives, Melbourne was able again to 27tb Aug.
prorogue Parliament, still continuing Minister, and still
basking in the sunshine of royal favour. After the proroga-
tion he proceeded to Windsor Castle, while Brougham was
obliged to return, disappointed and forlorn, to his house in
Westmorland. He had renounced his Whig connections,
and although in public he was closely associated with the
Tories, he liad as yet little private intercourse with them.
On Monday, the 21st of October, while Brougham Avas Report of
at Brougham Hall, London was thrown into a state of JeTth!*^''"'''*
great excitement and consternation by a report of his
death. The fact, at first disbelieved, soon gained universal
credit, from a letter purporting to have been written to his
friend Mr. Alfred Montgomery, by his friend ]Mr. Shafto, who
was on a visit at Brougham Hall, and Avho professed to have
been an eye-witness of the melancholy catastrophe. Sucli a
letter undoubtedly was received by Mr. Montgomery, and,
being entrusted to Count D'Orsay, was read by him at a
fashionable club in St. James's Street, as contaiuing true
intelligence. In a few minutes it was spread over the wide
metropolis.
All the morning papers of Tuesday, the 22nd of October,
except 'The Times,' contained leading articles on the
" sudden doatli of Lord Brougham," with biographical
sketches of him, and comments upon his career and character.
* 50 Hansard, 49G-543.
506 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, As a specimen of the laudatory, I copy that from the
^ ^- * Mornino: Chronicle ' : —
"O
A.D. 1839. " Death of Lord Brougham.
"It is with sincere and strong regret that we announce the
death of Lord Brougham. So far as the particulars have yet
ti-anspired of this unexpected and melancholy event, they are
derived from a letter from Mr. Shafto, whic^i we are informed
was read yesterday at one of the club-houses. It appears that
Lord Brougham, with his guests, Mr. Leader and Mr. Shafto,
left Brougham Hall on Saturday, for the purpose of visiting
some ruin in the neighbourhood ; that the axletree of the carriage
broke, the horses became unmanageable, the whole party was
thrown out, and after his Lordship had received a severe wound
by a kick from one of the horses, the wheel passed over his head,
killing him on the spot. Mr. Leader it is said was severely
bruised, but Mr. Shafto escaped without material injury. Such
is the account generally circulated last night. We have seen a
frank of Lord Brougham's dated on Sunday, and should have
taken it as evidence, notwithstanding the frequency with which
Sunday franks in particular are predated, of the falsehood of
the report, but for the distinct and circumstantial statement to
which we have referred. Of the event itself there is, we fear,
no reason to doubt.
" It has been our duty of late to comment with some severity,
though not more, we think, than the occasion demanded, on his
Lordship's last publication, and on the course of political action
which it seemed to forebode. Whatever expectation or appre-
hension it might suggest is now stilled for ever ; and the feelings
excited by that work are merged in those which embrace his
whole life, character, and political career.
" In variety of attainment, facility of expression, energy of
purpose ; in the grandeur of forensic eloquence ; in the declama-
tion that makes a debater impressive to his audience, and the
sarcasm that renders him most formidable to an opponent ; in
the untiring continuance of intellectual labour ; in the fervent
championship of many great objects of national philanthropy
and improvement ; and in that familiar personal acquaintance so
important to the practical statesman with the modes of thought
and feeling that obtain through all the. different gradations of
society — Lord Brougham stood pre-eminent amongst all his poli-
tical compeers. E[e well earned, by long toil, splendid efibrt,
and gradual ascent, the elevation to which he attained ; not that
merely of rank and station, but of celebrity and influence. Even
A.D. 1839.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 507
before lie acliieved, and after he was divested of office, no man CHAP,
more stirely fixed upon himself the attention of England and ^'^"
of Europe — of the old world and the new ; and now while
* The extravagant and erring spirit hies
To Ms confine — '
there, we devoutly hope, to repose in the bosom of his Father
and his God, we feel rising upon us the recollections of many
an arduous and vigorous struggle for the right, for unrestricte.d
commerce, for the spread of knowledge, for legal and representative
reforms, for the suffering and enslaved African, fur freedom,
civil and religious, for many a political victim marked for sacri-
fice, for a persecuted Queen, and for the poor and ignorant — the
injured and hopeless^n our own land and all the world over.
Such recollections, in spite of all deductions and exceptions,
which sink into disregard now that the great account is closed,
will endear and enshrine his memory. The Legislature, the
country at large, all parties, sects, classes, must feel that a great
public loss Las been sustained. And in the future annals of our
eventful times, conspicuous and illustrious, will stand the name
of Henry Lord Brougham."
But the tone of most of the other journals was very hostile,
although they professed a wish to be guided by the maxim
" De mortuis nil nisi bonum."
The ' Times ' remained silent on the subject till Thursday,
the 24th October, when there came out the following " sting-
ing " article, written by Mr. Barnes, the then Editor, who had
been exceedingly intimate with Brougham, and had long
been one of his warmest admirers and eulogists, but who had
quarrelled with him in the begimiing of the year 1834, and
had subsequently become his most formidable, because most
discriminating, a.ssailant: —
" The intelligence of Lord Brougham's death, believed so
generally and with so much confidence throughout the whole of
Monday last, and on authoiity believed to he so unqiiesti unable,
owed no part of its circulation to this journal, the only one
among the morning newspapers of Tuesday by which the
disastrous incident was not assumed for fact, and made the occa-
sion of some sort of obituary article.
" To expatiate at length upon such topics would require
an exercise of pen or speech almost as cumbrous as his Lord-
ship's own productions. He has been for a period equal to
A.D. 1839.
508 KEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAP, that of an entire generation the most voluminous of writers,
^^' ■ the most voluble of debaters, and of actors, if not the most
efiScient and successful, at any rate the most restless and inde-
fatigable.
"Had he abstained from writing, speaking, and attempting
nine-tenths of that with which he has loaded the name of
Brougham, he might have accomplished in each department
whereon his multifarious efforts were in a great measure wasted,
a* success as signal as his failures have been notorious and
memorable, and have enrobed himself with a graceful and flow-
ing reputation, not one composed of shreds and patches, here
exposing his nakedness, and there oppressing him with a grievous
and unwholesome weight.
" There is scarcely a subject on which Lord Brougham has not
put himself forward as the author of one or more publications —
history, theology, metaphysics, mathematics, political economy,
literary criticism, biographical criticism, constitutional disserta-
tion, party controversy without end.
' Omne fere scribendi genus tetigit.'
Alas ! we are unable to add, ' nullum quod tetigit non ornavit'
In fact, there is no one general topic discussed by Lord Brougham
Avith regard to which he has contributed either substance or
beauty to the thoughts which preceding writers had expended
on it To him the creative is not given. He
is an advocate, and nothing more; an advocate who gains
attention without inspiring any deep or enduring interest;
an advocate who entertains his audience, who strives to cut
away objections or obstructions by the edge of sarcasm, not
by the power of reason ; an advocate who can be vehement, but
never earnest, who exhibits heat of temper, but not of passion,
and could as rarely win the sympathy of jurors as he could the
sober sanction of the judge. . . .
" In society, as one of the most agreeable, amusing, kindly, and
convivial of associates, there is no individual capable of filling
the space which would have been left void by Lord Brougham's
untimely exit. There are a multitude of friends who loved him
for what he was and is, as there are of observers who have
admired him for what he might have been. But solid post in
the great political world he has none ; followers, he has none ;
reasonable prospects of influence or power, or gratified ambition,
he has none. There is no party, whether ' Movement' or 'Con-
servative,' that would venture to employ him otherwise than as a
transient ally ; — as a partner or a colleague, never. Setting aside
A.D. 18S9.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 509
all aflfectionate or private feelings, those members of both parties CHAP.
who are best acquainted with Lord Brougham, and have tried ^'
him, would, after a little Avhile, have felt his removal a li. 184i.
the moribund minister, which seemed to indicate that Jupiter
had already deprived him of his understanding. He still
eulogized free trade policy, but argued that it never could
have been carried by men who had only suddenly resorted to
it as a desperate experiment to keep themselves in power.
He denied that the result of the elections afforded any proof
of the people being against free trade ; they condemned the
minister, not the measure. He bitterly censured Melbourne
for dissolving Parliament when he might have known that
an appeal to the people would only make him more helpless,
and for meeting Parliament, instead of resigning, after the
result of the elections was known — so that he made the
Queen (for whose dignity he affected to be so solicitous)
recommend from the throne measures Avhich he knew that
both Houses would reject. He ho23ed that the new ministers
would sincerely adopt the great measure of free trade, which
had been retarded by the frauds of its pretended friends, and
thus only could the country reap the inestimable advantages
which it was calculated to bestow.
No answer was given or attempted to this speech, and at 24th Aug.
the conclusion of it the House dividing, the contents were
96, the not-contents 168 ; majority against the Whig Govern-
ment 72.
The Commons having after a debate of four days come to 27th Aug.
a similar vote by a majority of 91, Lord IMelbourne made
the usual announcement that ministers had resigned and
only held their offices till their successors were appointed.
Sir Robert Peel soon constructed his Government, which sir R. Peel
v.as supposed to secure the j^erpetual triumph of " Protcc- ^^.'^^f ^'''
tion," but which for ever established " Free Trade."
520
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOKIA.
CHAP.
VII.
A.D. 1841.
Brougham,
professing to
be '^ in the
front of the
Opposi-
tion," is
Advocate
General of
the new
Govern-
ment.
CHAPTER VII.
FROM THE EESIGNATION OF LORD MELBOURNE TO THE
RESIGNATION OF SIR ROBERT PEEL.
1841—1846.
At tlie next meeting of the House of Lords the two great
parties changed sides, the Conservatives (now ministerialists)
sitting on the right of the throne, and the Liberals (now
oppositionists) on the left. To the surprise of most men
Brougham crossed the house along with his old Whig asso-
ciates, drawn up in line against those whom he had warmly
supported, and had resolved warmly to support. This course
I thmk was very wrong, as not only being contrary to par-
liamentary and party practice and etiquette, but as being
actually disingenuous and unfair. In figurative phrase, he
was about to fight under false colours, and although I acquit
him of all wish ever to overhear the conversation of those
whom he meant to attack, I can testify that he sometimes
prevented a free communication between them when they
were considering how they should defend themselves against
his assaults; the continued tone of familiarity and good-
fellowship which was kept up between him and us only
rendered his presence the more embarrassing. He still felt
the same rankling resentment against the Whigs, and he was
as eager to disparage and to damage them when reduced to
seemingly hopeless opposition, as, in their palmy days, when
they could do what they pleased. I have reason to believe
that, although no offer of office was made to Brougham in
the late crisis, he was told, by way of lure, that Peel, who
in his heart was for free trade, entertained a high respect for
him ; that if the Great Seal became vacant he might be asked
to accept it, and that Lyndhurst, idle and unwilling to resume
labour at his advanced age, and moreover disliking Peel,
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 521
would probably soon resign. Whatever his motives might CHAP,
be, as his intention undonbtedly was zealously to aid the '
existing Government, he certainly ouglit to have seated him- a.d. 1841.
self behind the ministers, thrusting his knees into tlieir backs
as he openly and boldly did wlien a commoner in the time of
Canning ; or to have taken his place on the ministerial side
below the gangway ; or to have joined the discontented and
j)rofessedly neutral squad on the cross benches. But, while
he was in truth the chief protector of the Government, he
ostentatiously represented himself as liaving the inclinations
as well as the local station of a leader of Opposition. • Thus,
while speaking from his appropriated place on the left of
Lord Melbourne, after commenting on the gross and universal
bribery said to have prevailed at the late elections, and
classing the different parties accused, he observed : —
" The first charge is brought against men who support the
views of the present Government — at that time in opposition —
and over against ivhom T have now the honour to stand. The
second case is brought as a charge against men who supported
the late Government — now the Opposition, as it is called — m the
front of whicli I have now the honour to take my place. [Hear,
hear, and a laugli, from Lord Melbourne.'\ My noble friend, the
noble Viscount lately at the head of the Government, laughs-
I am at a loss to know what my noble friend meant by the
interruption. Was my noble friend annoyed at the term oppo-
sition ? "
Lord Melbourne, who was no doubt amused, like others, by
the false position of the noble and learned ex-Chaiicellor,
could not regularly complain of the place from which the
noble and learned ex-Chancellor spoke, as the standing orders
only required all Dukes to sit and speak from the Dukes'
bench, and so of the different grades of the peerage down to
Barons, without mentioning the modern terms of ministerial
and oj>2JOsition sides, which would have astonished our pre-
decessors in tlie reign of Edward L, although tlie House of
Lords was then arranged as to throne, woolsaclc, and side
benches and cross benches exactly as we now sec it. The
ex-Premier therefore contented himself with affecting to be
shocked at the idea of the ex-Chanccllor or any peer coming
522
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAP.
VII.
A.D. 1841.
Brougham's
reception of
Lord Canip-
bell ill the
House of
Lords.
Brougham
contented
and happy.
into tlie House witli the premeditated resolution of opposing
any measure proposed by the ministers of the Crown,
" I remember," said he, " when I was a member of the other
House, that alluding to a member as one of the Opposition was
considered irregular, and the Speaker solemnly pronounced it to
be unparliamentary language to say of any member that he had
come into the House pledged to oppose the Goyernment ; and
what be would have said of a member who declared that he took
Ids place in the front of the Opposition, the Lord only knows ! "*
Brougham was much annoyed by ray coming into the
House of Lords, foreseeing that I should be a sore check upon
him when laying down bad law during the debate ; but in
private we kept up our usual free raillery — even after we
were engaged in very sharp personal encounters in public.
When we first met in the House he held out his finger for me
to shake, and exclaimed, while he made a low bow, " How do
you do, my Lord ? Jach no longer." I asked him not
to remind me of my misfortunes. Brougham. — "Well, there
is one consolation for you here ; that you may speak when
you please, and as often as you please, and on what subjects
you please, and you may say what you jjlease," Campbell. —
" I suppose you expound the rules of the House from your
own practice, but this will only suit you. None hut yourself
can he your ^^arallel ! "
Brougham was now in exuberant spirits, and seemed to
delight in the cherished conviction that the Whigs were for
ever prostrate. To accomplish this object he was ready to
submit to any sacrifice, and he really seemed careless about
office for himself. He ascribed the victory which had been
won mainly to his own efforts, and till the freshness of the
rapture he exjierienced had passed away, he confessed that he
was sufficiently rewarded by the glory he had acquired.
Wonderful to relate, he did not at all feel the awkwardness
of his own position as the champion of a party which he pro-
fessed to oppose. How deeply is it to be regretted that he
did not now retire from party warfare, and, acting with real
independence, devote himself to national education, the
suppression of slavery, the improved administration of chari-
59 Hansard, 1007.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 523
ties, aud law reform. A party niiglit have formed round CHAP,
him and forced him into power. At all events the remainder '
of his career would have been straightforward and easy, and ^.d. 1841.
would have commanded the respect of mankind. If he could
have had a prophetic glance at the difficulties, embarrass-
ments, mortifications and obloquy to be encountered in the
course which he was about to adopt, he surely would have
shrunk from it with horror.
Sir Eobert Peel, being duly installed, proposed no measures
to Parliament, most peremjDtorily refused to give the slightest
intimation what his policy was to be, and very speedily put
an end to the session, so that Brougham, professing to be in '^th Oct.
" the front of the Opposition," but eager to show his unmi-
tigated enmity to the members of the fallen Government, was
dismissed for a while from parliamentary warfare, in wliich
he always much delighted, to the stillness of private life,
which sometimes made him pine for excitement.
In the month of December he found relief in the Judicial Biouglmm
Committee of the Privy Council — a very useful tribunal diciai'^Com-
which he had founded, and which, as yet, he continued very '"'^t*^*^ °*
the Privy
assiduously to attend. I myself, ex-Chancellor of Ireland, Couacii.
was now a member of it, and I found him a very agreeable
colleague. He used to talk of this tribunal in the House
of Lords and elsewhere as Ms court, and represented all
the cases that came before it as decided by his own
sole authority. But in truth we were all equal, and he
was not even jirimus inter jpares, although he would repre-
sent himself as the chief or president, and the other
members as his puisnes or jDuppets. But when we were
sitting together he was very unassuming and docile. He
delivered judgment in his turn — never shirking work — and
his judgments were often very elaborate and able. He had a
scheme for making himself chief, or president, with a salary ;
but although this was favoured by the Duke of Wellington,
who thought him a profound lawyer and great judge, it
could not be carried, as Peel would not agree to it ; and a few
years afterwards Brougham grew tired of " his court," and
deserted it, under the pretence that Sir Edward Kyan, late
Chief Justice of Calcutta, had been improperly made a
524
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, member of it, althougli every way better qualified tlian tbe
' iudividiial whom he wished to be appointed.
A.D. 1841. This was William Courtenay, whom Lord Chancellor
Creation of Broiigham, ^roj^Ho vigore, created Earl of Devon. He was
Brougham, the Undoubted male heir to the Courtenays, Earls of Devon,
but only collaterally. Now the title had been limited to the
grantee and his heirs male. This limitation, by the law of
England, was only to heirs male descended from his body, and
not to heirs male collateral, descended from a common ances-
tor. Therefore, when heirs male of the body of the grantee
failed, the title was extinct. So it was universallv understood
ever since the last Earl died, ages ago, and the true representa-
tive of the family laying no claim to the earldom, had been
created Viscount Courtenay to him and his heirs male. The
Viscount's heirs male becoming extinct, William Courtenay,
eldest son of the Bishop of Exeter, bred to the bar, made a
Master in Chancery, and afterwards Clerk Assistant in the
House of Lords, became the representative of this illustrious
house. He made out his pedigree very satisfactorily, and (as
he himself told me) he ]3etitioned the Crown that he might
have a writ sent to him as Earl of Devon, not with any
thought of being entitled to this peerage, but in the hope that,
his pedigree being clear, he might be created a peer by favour
of the Crown, on account of his disting-uished lineage, being
of the same blood as the Bourbons and the Emperors of the
East. It was referred by the Queen to the House of Lords,
and coming before a Committee of Privileges (to the astonish-
ment of all mankind, and particularly of the claimant) Lord
Chancellor Brougham expressed a clear opinion that the
claim was well founded. Unfortunately for Brougham the
point was defectively argued by Sir Thomas Denman, then
Attorney General, who knew nothing of the subject, and
omitted to cite the Prince's case from Lord Coke's Eeports,
which, would have been quite decisive against the claim.
Courtenay, from being Clerk Assistant, was now placed
nearly at the top of the English peerage, but unfortunately,
from having emoluments equal to 5000?. a year, he was
reduced almost to destitution, and Brougham, thinking the
members of the Judicial Committee were to have salaries,
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM!. 525
wished to make provision for his " belted Earl," according to ^y^^"
ancient royal usage.* But the " belted Earl " was very justly
considered incompetent, and Ryan, as I have observed, was a..d. 1842.
appointed in preference. Although Brougham gave this as
his reason for ceasing to attend the meetings of the Judicial
Committee, he must have had reasons more stringent ; and a
more probable one was that all chance of his being made
" President of the Committee of the Privy Council in matters
of appeal" had died away.
When Parliament again met he resumed his place in the 3id Feb.,
House of Lords, locally opposed to the ministers, but resolved f ' a^^if'^^j'"'^
to haclc them most strenuously. Although he always spoke tiie House
from the opposition side of the house, after the debate began
he was seldom in his place, and he moved about very rapidly.
His favourite seat was the Woolsack, where he seemed to
enjoy divisum imperium with Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst.
When referring to them in debate, I was obliged to call
the latter " my noble and learned friend on the woolsack,"
and the former, " my noble and learned friend on the edge of
the woolsack." Lyndhurst, pretending a great deference to
Brougham's opinion, now acquired a complete ascendancy over
him, which he strengthened and continued by hints that he
himself was sick of oflSce, and could not go on much longer
with Peel, some of whose measures he did not much relish,
and whose "cold, stiff, priggish manners" he exceedingly dis-
liked. By these or some other means the two law lords
became strictly united, not only as political partizans, but as
* I have often rallied Brougliam upon his creating William Courtenay
Earl of Devon, He says that he consulted Lord Chief Justice Tenterden,
who agreed with him in thinking the claim well founded. But Lord Chief
Justice Tenterden knew nothing of Peerage law, and must have come to
a contrary conclusion if he had heard the question properly argued. If the
limitation Lad been "to the grantee and his heirs," it is allowed that tlio
collateral heir male could not have taken; and the limitation "to the
grantee and his heirs male" could not let in the collateral heir. Such a
limitation of a landed estate could not be made by the law of England,
and therefore coidd not be made of a dignity. Wlien I was Attorney
General, Brougham was about to cre.ite anotiier Earl, by making :\rr. Hope
Johnston Earl of Annandale; and he had actually congratulated Mrs,
Hope Johnston as the Countess; but with the assistance of Sir William ^
Eollett, I prevented him from completiug the creation, and the claim was
disallowed.
526 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
^Yi^' Pi'i"^^t6 friends. And they were denominated even in Parlia-
' ment tlie " Siamese Twins."*
A.D. 1842. Lyndliurst, although talking in private with the most
Brougham's unbounded licence of all things and all men, was exceedino-ly
loci 0771(10 flips ^^
with Lord cautious as to what he said in debate, and I had not any
Campbell, personal conflict with him ; but Brougham for some time, in
alluding to me, persisted in his reckless dictatorial tone. To
the surprise of the House, notwithstanding his superior repu-
tation and rhetorical powers, I boldly stood up to him and
taught him to respect me. These logomacliies, by the assist-
ance of newspapers and caricatures, amused the public at the
time, but would have little interest for posterity.
The economical and financial measures which Peel now
brought forward threw Brougham into some difficulties.
Although the commercial tariff was much improved, and the
importation of cattle was permitted duty free, a duty on corn
was continued with a sliding scale, contrary to the proposal
of the ousted Whigs. Brougham had abused them for
wishing to retain a small fixed duty, declaring that any tax
on the importation of the necessaries of life was an abomina-
tion instantly to be swept away. However, he praised the
new Corn Bill as « a step in the right direction."
fonsKienr'' "^^^ ^® ^^^ ^^^* *° ™^®* ^ measure directly subversive of
onjhe In- principles in defence of which he had declared that he was
ready to die, and in defence of which rebellion, if likely
to be successful, would be justifiable. Soon after his
entrance into the House of Commons he had acquired
immense credit by resisting the proposal to continue the
income-tax for a year subsequently to the conclusion of
the general peace, contending that it was an imposition
which, on account of its inequality, oppressiveness, and inqui-
sitorial nature ouglit not to be endured in a free country,
unless during flagrant war. Nay, to destroy as far as possible
the very recollection of such a tax, and to prevent any wicked
minister from ever again attempting to resort to it, he had
moved a resolution which was carried, "that all returns,
assessments, papers, and documents connected with the income-
* See 78 Hansard, 137.
come- tax.
LIFE OF LOUD BROUGHAM. 527
tax should be imme'liatelv burned," omittinjr " bv the hands CHAP.
," VII
of the common hangman," only because such an employment '
of this functionary had fallen into disuse. But Sir Robert a.d. 1842.
Peel, after a peace of thirty years, uhich still remained
undisturbed, when there was neither war, nor rumour of war,
proposed a renewal of the income-tax as the basis of his
scheme for improving the agriculture, manufactures, and
commerce of the country. What was Brougham to do now ?
Alas! — to vote for the hill! This was very distasteful to him,
but less distastefid than to endanger Sir Robert Peel and to
play into the hands of the Whigs. In the hope of proving
his boasted consistency he moved certain resolutions (which
to please him were met by the previous question) reiterating
his old doctrines about the income-tax ; but he argued that
this was an exceptional case, that an income-tax in time of
peace was not so bad as a national bankruptcy, and that the
blunders of the Whigs since he left them had reduced us to
this sad alternative.*
He was now amazingly flattered and petted by the Tory Brougham
Peers. Without his aid and in spite of his hostility they could \Iq Toi/
easily have commanded a decisive majority on every question ; P^"'®-
but they said truly that, " thanks to him, they led a very quiet
and easy life, and got home to dinner every evening at a very
reasonable hour." They were desirous, therefore, as far as
decency would permit (and a little farther), to comply with
all his whims, that they might keep him in good humour.
Of this I had a remarkable instance towards the close of
the Session. A bill had been introduced into the House
of Commons to disfranchise Sudbury for bribery and corrup-
tion, and Roebuck, then a member of that House, spoke for it
and voted for it. When it came up to the Lords it was to be
supported and opposed by counsel at the bar, and an announce-
ment was made that the same Roebuck was to argue for the
disfranchisement. I mentioned the matter to the Chancellor,
to the Chairman of the Committees, and to several- leading
Peers on both sides, and they all agreed with me that this was
a very unseemly proceeding, which ought to be prevented — that
a member of the other House, who was supposed to have given
♦ G4 Hansard, 39.
528 EEIGN OP QUEEN VICTOKIA.
CHAP, ajj unbiassed vote for the bill, should come with a fee to try-
to persuade us either to pass it or to reject it. I accordingly
A.D. 1842. gave notice of moving a standing order, that " no one be heard
at the bar of this House as counsel for or against any bill
depending in this House, who is a member of the Commons
House of Parliament." Brougham, through whose jDatronage
this retainer had been sent to Eoebuck, was thrown into a
transport of rage, ran to Lyndhurst to denounce the pro-
ceeding as an attempt to insult Eoebuck, "who, though some-
times holding ultra-Eadical language, was a very good fellow,
and might have it in his power materially to assist or damage
the Government." Lyndhurst was immediately convinced
that he had taken a hasty view of the question when it was
first mentioned to him, and not only promised that he himself
would oppose the standing order, but that there should be a
Government whip against it, so that Eoebuck need be under
no apprehension. The motion was made ; but there was a
muster against me as if I had been moving a resolution of
want of confidence in the Ministers, and I did not venture to
divide. Brougham relied mainly upon what he had done
himself in Queen Caroline's case ; but allowed that he intended
to have resigned his seat in the House of Commons before
appearing as counsel at the bar of the House of Lords, and that
he had entered into an undertaking not to vote upon the bill
or take any part in it when it came into the House of Com-
moms : and that House further passed a resolution against the
permission, even on this undertaking, being drawn into a
precedent.*
Prosperity For three years following. Brougham's political position
Peel's Go- ^.ud relations remained unchanged. Sir Eobert Peel's Govern-
vernmeiit. ment wcut ou Very prosperously. The dispute with the United
States of America respecting the boundary between Lower
Canada and Maine, which had several times nearly led to
war, was adjusted by treaty. There was profound peace in
Europe. Our disasters in Affghanistan were repaired, and
the war with China was terminated honourably and advan-
tageously. To the astonishment of every one, the income-tax
was paid without a murmur, and made the Minister more
* 65 Hansard, 730-751.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 529
popular, instead of proving his ruin. Altliougli '•' the shding- CHAP,
scale" still regulated the importation of corn, many other arti-
cles upon which there had been prohibitory duties w-^re freely a.i.. i843.
admitted from foreign countries, in exchange for our manufac-
tures, and various internal taxes were repealed which weighed
heavily on the springs of industry. The country was in all re-
spects in a better condition than at the expulsion of the Whigs.
Brougham not only patriotically but personally rejoiced in
the contrast, and still continuing in " the front rank of oppo- Brougham
sition," he acted as trumpeter to the Tories. He was ever inhr^'*"
ready to defend or palliate any mistake they might commit, Tones.
and to exaggerate their merits and successes. *
The boundary treaty with America was very much to be
rejoiced in, the disputed territory being of no real value ; but
Lord Ashburton, our negotiator, acting on the instructions he
received, had certainly allowed himself to be overreached by
Mr. Webster, the American Foreign Minister, and had agreed
to give up a large district which undoubtedly belonged to
Canada, and which the Americans had only recently claimed.
In the House of Commons the Government was contented
with carrying a resolution, generally expressing satisfaction
with the treatv. But this was not enouf^h for Brouo:ham,
and in the Lords, taking the affair out of th'e hands of the
Government altogether, he, after speaking three hours from
the opposition side of the House, moved a resolution —
" That this House doth approve the conduct of the late negoti-
ation with the United States, and rejoice in the terms, alike
advantageous and honourable to both parties, upon which the
treaty has been concluded ; and doth express its high sense of
the ability with which the Lord A.sliburton, the Minister sent to
treat with the United States, executed his commission."
He t6ok this opportunity of levelling many sarcasms at
Palmerston, the veteran Foreign Minister under the Whig
Government, showing how much more skill, as \vcll as sin-
cerity, than he could fairly boast of, had been disjilayed by
Lord Ashburton, an ennobled London merchant, who had so
completely excelled him in. this diplomatic coujy d'essai. A
Peer who spoke against the resolution, having warmly de-
fended Lord Palnierston, Brougham, in reply, " denied that
VOL. VIII. 2 M
530 KEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP. ]ie liad intended to sneer at his noble friend, witli whom he
' had the honour of being a colleague for four years." *
A.u. 1843. Peel said truly that his " great difficulty was Ireland."
This arose very much from his own imprudent method of
meeting the repeal agitation of Daniel O'Connell. He first
allowed the demagogue for several years to hold " monster
meetings," which ought at once to have been forbidden and
dispersed, and to make speeches and to publish writings which
ought to have been promptly prosecuted and punished as
seditious. He at last, in one " monster indictment " against
him, included all the offences which O'Connell and his asso-
ciates had actually committed, and charged as offences other
matters of which the criminal law does not take cognizance.
A conviction having been irregularly as well as unfairly
obtained upon this indictment, and sentence of imprisonment
j)assed, a writ of error was sued out to bring the case before
the House of Lords.
A.D. 1844. When O'Connell's case came to be argued at the bar,
Part taken Brougham, I belicve, formed a clear and conscientious opinion
by
Biougham that the judgment ought to be affirmed. This, of course, he
was bound to act upon, and there would have been no harm
in his privately expressing a hope that what he considered
justice should not be defeated by what he considered techni-
cality. But from an indiscreet eagerness to support the
Government, and from personal antipathy to O'Connell, who
had often talked very irreverently of his doings, particularly
of his Scottish " progress," now, while sujiposed to be an im-
partial Judge, he acted as a keen partisan, and he imputed to
others the political feelings by which he himself was palpably
influenced. Mr. Baron Parke having, when consulted by the
House of Lords, given an opinion in favour of O'Connell,
Brougham asserted, in the most direct terms, to private indi-
viduals, and insinuated very intelligibly in public, that this
opinion of the Judge was entirely produced by disappointment
at his not having been made Chief Baron, when that office
had been lately vacant. His own oj)inion for affirming the
judgment he delivered with unjudicial asperity; and when
the judgment was reversed, according to the opinion of Lord
* 68 Hansard, 599-678.
on O'Con-
nell's case.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 531
Denman, Lord Cottenliam, and Lord Campbell, lie was actually CHAP,
in a furious rage, saying in his place that " the decision had ^^^'
gone forth without authority, and would return without a.d. 1843-
respect." * He then stepped up to me and whispered in my ^^*'*-
ear, " You have created a Peer. Tindal will forthwith be SpSoT,'
brought in to vote against you, Cottenham, and Denman. "-''''"^t
Do you suppose tliat the Government will go on with a i*ng judi- "
minority of Law Lords in this House ? Tindal has a fair 1^^'^' *^^*
claim to the peerage, having been so long Chief Justice of actuated by
the Common Pleas. He is a man to be depended upon, and ^^'^ ""*'"
a Peer he will be." I have not a doubt that he recommended
this step to Lyndhurst and to Peel, for he is very fond of
offering his advice to any Government which he patronises,
but Peel would not listen to it ; and Tindal died a commoner.
I ought gratefully to mention the valuable assistance I His valuable
assistance
in carrvincr
received from Brougham in carrying through my " Libel
Bill," which allows truth to be given in evidence in prosecu- Lord Camp
tions by individuals for defamation, and contains various *^ * ' '''
important provisions for the protection of the Press and for a.d. 1843.
the protection of private character. It was preceded by a
Select Committee to inquire into the subject, before which
various classes of witnesses were examined, and, among
others, the editors of the London newspapers. The ' Morning
Chronicle ' had attacked Brougham rather sharply on various
occasions since he had left the Whigs, and Dr. Black, the
editor, a gentleman of considerable literary eminence, attending
as a witness. Brougham thus began his cross-examination : —
" Now, Dr. Black, suppose you resolve to write down a public How a
man, how do you set about it ? " Dr. Blach : « I never knew ^^y^be"'"''
any public man written down, excei^t hy himself." t written
Valuable assistance was likewise rendered me by Brougham
in carrying my " bill for giving compensation to the families
of those who are killed by the negligence of others " — a most
beneficial adoption (with modifications) of the Scotch law of
Assythement — approved by all except Eailway Directors.
Brougham and I heartily coalesced to ward off the im- Dismption
pending disruption of the Church of Scotland. He was ?n*'^*, n
i- o L _ Church of
* Clark and Fiunelly's Kep., vol. xi. ; 81 Hansard, 459. ' ' ' "
t 66 Hansard, 395.
2 M 2
532 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, proud of his relationship to Dr. Eobertson, and he took a
' sincere interest in the prosperity of that Church, of which
A.o. 1843- the celebrated historian had been for many years the orna-
^^*** meut and the leader. Having concurred in the judicial
decisions against the assumption of power by the General
Assembly to repeal the Act of Parliament which recognises
lay patronage, we were willing to concur in any measures to
prevent the abuse of that patronage, and all might have gone
well. But unfortunately the matter was left by the Govern-
ment chiefly in the hands of Lord Aberdeen, a " Ruling
Elder," who was said to have exhibited, in a very edifying
manner, the gift of extempore prayer in the Kirk Session.
But by his vacillation and timidity he brought about the
disruption of the Church of Scotland, as some years afterwards
he brought about the war with Russia. Producing the im-
pression that his Government would yield and might be
bullied, he induced the Non-intrusion party to commit them-
selves by a step that could not be retraced — like the passage
of the Pruth by the Czar Nicholas. When we reproached
him for want of spirit, he said, " He had spirit enough to
oppose us, and that the House was not to be lawyer-ridden."
Brougham's Brougham was still amused by the prospect of holding the
beLoming Great Seal under Sir Robert Peel, on the long-hinted-at, but
President of ^ever approximating, retirement of Lyndhurst. Meanwhile,
Committee, as a stepping-stoue, he now more eagerly wished for the Presi-
dentship of the Judicial Committee, and Lyndhurst was still
willing to humour him, that he might be kept quiet. During
the autumn, in his absence, the other members of the Court
had worked hard and disposed of every case whicli was ready
for hearing. On coming back to London, at the meeting of
Parliament, he moved for and obtained a return of all the
cases which stood ready for hearing. The return, of course,
was nil. Thereuj^on it was concerted between him and
Lyndhurst that this return should be a peg for a discussion
on the Presidentship, preparatory to the introduction of a bill
for establishing it. In consequence, when there was no motion
before the House, Brougham rose and dwelt upon " the satis-
faction which .the public must feel in finding that the business
before this high tribunal was done with such dispatch."
A.D. 1844.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 533
Lord CJiancellor Lyndhirst. — " I take this opportunity of stating CHAP,
my opinion to be unchanged, that it is necessary to have a per- ^^^'
manent head of this Court."
Lord Brougham. — " I have no objection to such a plan. The
establishment of the Judicial Committee has been unquestionably
productive of great benefits ; but it is susceptible of improve-
ment, and, if supported, I will endeavour to remedy its im-
perfections."
Lord Campbell. — " I am of opinion that the system as it now
stands, works well. With mj noble and learned friend who
spoke last, this system originated, and the public are much in-
debted to the author of it. So well has he framed it, with an
inherent power of self-development, that it performs all its func-
tions even when occasionally depiived of its head. How have we
the boasted return of nil 9 Because while my noble and learned
friend was at his chateau in Provence, enjoying the clear sky of
Italy and the soft breezes of the Mediterranean, we, his humble
Puisnes, were sitting day by day in the fogs of London, clearing-
off all arrears. We did miss the goodhumoured sallies with
which he knows how to enliven the dullest drudgery, but still
the work was done, and (as he vouchsafes to say) so well that
the public ought to be grateful for our labours."
Lord Brougham. — " As my noble and learned friend has been
pleased to bestow compliments on me in relation to the Judicial
Committee, I beg to reciprocate them — truly and sincerely —
although I cannot say he throws liveliness on the matters which
come before that tribunal ; so dry are they, that I defy all the
liveliness of all the members to enliven them. But I must say
in all seriousness that I feel very great scruples of conscience and
much delicacy in calling upon my noble and learned friend, who
has other avocations, to come and give his hours and labour in
that Court, and to render purely giatuitous services to the public.
In the discharge of judicial functions, service merely voluntary
is a thing to be abhorred. Here sits my noble and learned friend
in the decision of most important causes, week after week, without
either salary or pension. This ought not to be. But a remedy
may easily be adopted at a very small expense to the public."*
Accordingly he prepared and introduced a bill wliicli
created a President of the Court, with a salary of 2000Z.
a year, and precedence immediately after the Lord Privy
Seal ; gave the President two puisnes vvith 1500Z. and 12001.
* 72 Hansard, 4G7.
534 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
^3^i^^' respectively, and contained several otlier clauses enlarging
the jurisdiction of the Court. On the second reading he again
A.D. 184^-^. entered at great length into the constitution of the tribunal,
and the necessity for having paid judges to serve upon it.
Lord Campbell. — " This House is to consider only what the
public good requires ; and, getting on very satisfactorily as we
are, either with or without my noble friend, I cannot imagine
why your Lordships should make any change. For three years I
have attended assiduously and contentedly, deeming that I have
reward enough in rendering some small service to my country.
If we are to have a new head, how do the necessities of justice
require that the head should he of the quality here described ?
I know not who the new head is to be ; as to this we can only
form a not improbable conjecture. But I discover from the
bill that the head is to be of high rank in the Court and out of
the Court ; he is to take precedence of all Barons, Viscounts, Earls,
Marquesses, and Dukes, Knights of the Bath, Knights of the
Thistle, Knights of St. Patrick, Knights of the Garter, in this
House, in the Privy Council, at Coronations, Levees, and Draw-
ing-rooms, and on all occasions, judicial, social, solemn, or merry.
I am and shall continue proud of the tribunal of which I happen
to be an unworthy member ; but I cannot conceive how its dig-
nity or efficiency can depend on its head having such unprece-
dented heraldic distinction. I shall not object to the bill being
read a second time ; but unless it be materially altered, I shall
not be able to give my assent to it."
The bill being read a second time was referred to a Select
Committee.* But the job was attacked by the Press in a
manner M'hich induced the noble and learned Lord, when
naming the Select Committee, to say : —
" I am "rather astonished— if indeed, after living so long, I can
be astonished by anything — that the motive assigned to me for
bringing in this bill is that I want to make a place for myself.
However, I ought not to be astonished at this assertion, consider-
* 73 Hansard, 691. Brougham said the intention of the bill was to give
precedence to the new President only while sitting in Court, but it was
anxiously framed to give it in all places and at all times. Indeed, his prece-
dence ill Court required no special enactment. Brougham, by no means
covetous of money, would have cared very little for the proposed salary, but
would have had great delight in the proposed precedence. Such weaknesses
are to be found united with high aspirations.
A.D. 1844.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 535
ing the nnmerous race it belongs to — engendered by malice and CHAP.
ber bastard sister falsebood — both begotten by the father of lies
upon the weakness of human nature. The person who put forth
the story ought to have reflected that anything" more absurd
could not have been devised by the wit of man. It is a perfectly
notorious fact that I have refused such an offer three times over,
and when my noble and learned friend on the woolsack and
another noble friend pressed me to it, and when, if I had con-
sented, the bill would have been brought in with all the weight
of the Government, I refused it. I did not then see the necessity
for it as I now do." *
Upon this Lord John Russell, leader of the Opposition in
the Commons, put a question to Sir Eobert Peel, the Prime
Minister, in the following terms : —
" I wish to call the attention of the right honourable gentle-
man and of the House to a very extraordinary statement which
I think the right honourable gentleman will himself be happy to
contradict. It is said that a very eminent person, some time
ago, received an offer no less than three times repeated to place
him at the head of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
as a permanent Judge. It would seem the more wise and usual
course, if the Government considered such a judge necessary, for
them to introduce their own bill and to carry their bill through
Parliament, and to allow it to receive the royal assent, before an
offer was made to any individual of the new judgeship. It cer-
tainly seems a most extraordinary, — not to call it a suspicious,
course to propose to any individual, however eminent, that he
should accept such an appointment, there being at that time no
office of the kind in existence, and the proposed office being con-
nected with the Privy Council, — always considered to be so
immediately under the control of the sovereign."
Sir Robert Peel was dreadfully puzzled, for he now heard
of this " New President " for the first time. He would not
pervert the truth, and having had such steady support from
Brougham, he was loth to affront him. But the following
sentence contradicts Brougham very flatly, although not in
express words : —
" If the bill in the House of Lords for appointing a President
* 73 Hansard, 796.
536 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, of the Judicial Committee comes down to this House, I have as
^^^ unfettered a right to exercise a discretion with respect to it
~~' as the noble Lord himself." *
A.D. 1844.
Brougham immediately abandoned the clauses in the bill
about the new judgeship, and the bill passed, merely altering
in some particulars the jurisdiction of the Court. The news-
papers now blamed him for abandoning the clauses about the
new judgeship when he found that he could not be the judge,
and he again complained in the House of Lords —
" that nothing could be more scandalous, false, and audacious,
for he had explained in his place that he never had a thought of
being a candidate for the judgeship." t
I am bound to say that in this affair we have an ilkistration
of the remark I have before made respecting Brougham's
strange practice of recklessly making statements in the pre-
sence of those who he knew might, if so inclined, have flatly
contradicted him. But, to use a favourite phrase of his own,
he really seemed at times to labour under a " hallucination,"
which disturbed his judgment, confused the boundary between
memory and imagination, annihilated undoubted facts, and
gave him a momentary belief in that which never had existed.
Although his statements were not much relied upon, he never
had the reputation of a wilful teller of falsehoods, and he
always maintained his position in society as a gentleman.
His supposed entire want of sincerity may perhaps be ex-
plained by the diversity of feelings which agitated his mind
at different times, rather than by his consciously expressing
sentiments, which at the time of expressing them he did not
entertain.
Interview I passcd the autumu of 1844 at Boulogne. Knowing that
betw^em"""" Brougham would be passing through on his way to the
Bioug;ham Chateau Eleanor Louise, I thought that after our recent
grapher. '"" eucouuters in the House of Lords he might avoid me, but
he found me out — employed upon my biographical work.
We were cordial as usual, and he warmly invited me to visit
him in Provence, — saying, " Mind, if you do not come, I will
* 73 Hansard, 1728. t 76 Hansard, 778.
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 537
write the 'Lives of the Chancellors,' publish before you, C7TAP.
and take the wind out of your sails." '
We did not meet again till the beginning of the following a.d. 1845.
Session of Parliament. In the interval I received several
letters from him, which I have not preserved. Sometimes
they contained observations upon individuals, which showed
that they were sent on an implied understanding that they
should be burnt as soon as read ; but generally, they were
upon very trifling matters, certainly not written to be pub-
lished.
The Session of 1845 was exceedingly dull. Peel was now Session of
transcend ently powerful, and party struggles had almost ^^^^'
ceased. In the Lords there was no one to lead the Opposition.
Lord Melbourne had suffered from an attack of paralysis, and
although he had so far recovered as to be able to come down
to the House, he was in such a shattered condition that he
was not allowed to speak. Under these circumstances Lord
Lansdowne refused to act as leader, and there was no one
else who could be recognised in that capacity.
Brougham had an easy time of it as Protector of the Govern-
ment. However, daily speaking was necessary to him, and I
find in the volumes of Hansard for this Session, no fewer than
one hundred and seventy -four of his speeches reported.*
But these were almost all upon subjects of temporary
interest.
One great speech he made on Law Eeform, detailing, with
great minuteness (the Peers thought tediousness), what he
had proposed, what had been done, and what remained to be
done. He concluded by laying on the table nine new bills,
for the amendment of the law, and moving that they be read
a first time. But, to his great mortification, although there Brougham
was a numerous attendance of peers when he began, they ^^p^^
were now reduced to three besides the orator, viz., the Lord ^°^'^-
Chancellor on the woolsack. Lord Wharncliffe on the Minis-
terial side, and Lord Campbell representing the Opposition.f
* See Index to vol. Ixxxii. I am shocked to say that I found 117 of my
own, most of them, I believe, provoked by Brougham. Without his hilp the
House would often have adjourned immediately after prayers, instead of
sitting to the late hour of half-jjast seven.
t 80 Hansard, 515. His pet bill of the nine was a bill to establish Courts
538
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
VII.
A.D. 1845,
Brougham
at the Court
of Queeu
Victoria.
Sudden
turn ot" tlie
Wheel of
Fortune,
I can find no cliscnssions during this Session more interesting
than those which frequently recurred about the " New Houses
of Parliament." In these Brougham took a leading part,
frequently abusing Gothic architecture, Barry the architect,
and Prince Albert for protecting him. The Prince thought
to appease him by asking him to dine with the Queen. He
went and dined, but widened his breach with the Court, by
leaving the palace immediately after dinner, instead of
going with the rest of the gentlemen into the gallery, into
which the Queen had retired with the ladies, and where she
is in the habit of conversing with her guests. He afterwards
tried to make amends by attending the Queen's drawing-room,
— a condescension he had not before practised since her acces-
sion ; but here again he was unfortunate (although I really
believe he wished to be civil and respectful) by speaking to
the Queen ex mero motu as he passed her, and telling her that
" he was to cross over to Paris in a few days, where he should
see Louis Philippe, and that if her Majesty had any letters
or messages for the King of the French, it would give him
much pleasure to have the honour of being the bearer of
them." Her Majesty declined, not entirely concealing her
surprise at the offer, and I believe that he has not been at
the English Court since.
In the autumn of 1845, Brougham repaired as usual to his
chateau at Cannes. When he left England Sir Eobert Peel
appeared to be established as Prime Minister for life. Chartism
was extinguished by the strong arm of the law, and still more
by the increased demand for labour in all departments of
industry. The Whigs were prostrate, and despaired of ever
rising again. An agitation was kept up by the Corn Law
League for free trade in corn, but it made little progress,
and the "sliding scale" was expected to be permanent.
of Eeconciliation, by ■which no suit
till the parties themselves, without
Judge of Eecoucilemeut, forgettiag
meuced are for undisputed debts,
twentieth, the parties themselves w
claims, and the personal altercation
or compromise. Of the nine bills
nature.
was to be commenced in a Court of Law
counsel or attorney, had been before the
that nineteen-twentieths of the suits com-
and that with jespect to the remaining
ould be quite incompetent to state their
would take away all chance of settlement
only two passed, and they of a trifling
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 539
Before Brongliam returned to England Sir Robert Peel had ^^^^•
resigned; the leader of the Whigs had been intrusted by the '
Queen to form a new Government, and had failed in the at- a.d, 1845.
tempt, and Sir Robert Peel, resuming his situation, had, with the
concurrence of all his colleagues excej^t Lord Stanley, pledged
himself to abandon the sliding scale, and to abolish the
Corn Laws. This revolution was caused by a microscopic
insect gnawing the roots of a plant which essentially contri-
butes to the food of one portion of the United Kingdom, and
constitutes almost the entire support of another. Brougham
long heard with incredulity the rumours of the " Potato
Famine," and the political consequences which it was likely to
produce ; but the appalling intelligence at last reached him
that Lord John Russell was at the head of a new Whig Govern-
ment. Where were now his prospects of being Peel's Chan-
cellor on the retirement of Lyndhurst ? The Whigs again
in power ! Nor had he the consolation of looking forward to
an internecine conflict with them, for their Government was
to be founded on the principle of free trade, of which he had
always been the advocate, and there might be serious difficulty
in standing up for his boasted consistency if he were now to
go over to Protection. But he was recompensed for all this
mortification and anxiety by the happy tidings that Lord
Grey's fantastical objection to Lord Palmerston being Foreign
Secretary had demolished the Wliig Government, and that
he himself might still be the advocate of Prime Minister
Peel, and the " hammer of the Whigs." In the beginning of
January, 1846, he cheerily re-crossed the Estrelles, imjjatient ad. 1846.
for the coming session, when his consequence would be en-
hanced by Peel's embarrassments, and the late reward might
be expected of his steady partizanship.
It is my duty, however, as a true and imj^artial bio- Brougham's
grapher, to relate that he was made very unhappy at this nesron'
time by the successful publication of my 'Lives of the tiie success
Chancellors.' There is no disguising the fact that jealousy, ' Lives of ■
even of very inferior men, is a striking defect in Brougham's ceTio^s.^""
character, and betrays him into veiy unbecoming practices.
He went about almost in a state of fury, abusing the ' Lives
of the Chancellors.' He wrote himself, or induced others to
540
EEIGN OF QUEEN YICTOKIA.
CHAP.
vn.
A.D. 1846.
Brougham's
denunci-
ation of the
Com Law
League.
write, in periodicals over wliicli be had influence, stinging
articles ao^ainst tlie book and its author. Tbe most formidable
of these was in the ' Law Keview,' of which be was, and for
vears has continued to be, the director. But much coarser
abuse was poured out in a succession of 'Letters' which
appeared in the ' Morning Herald,' long the vehicle of bis
attacks upon those who displeased him. To my great sur-
prise be one day voluntarily assured me that he was not the
author of these ' Letters.' I answered that I was bound to
suppose they were written by some one who had maliciously
imitated his style. However, the subject was not further
alluded to in conversation between us, and we were soon again
friends as before.
The repeal of the Com Laws had been recommended in the
Speech from the Throne, and the whole Session was occupied
with that measure and its cousequences. Brougham, although
professing Free-trade doctrines, had been very hostile to the
Corn Law League, and had very scurrilously assailed Mr.
Cobden and his associates, when they pressed Peel for an
utter abrogation of the monopoly of tbe native corn growers,
contending that the " sliding scale " was entirely at variance
with the principle on which, by his new tariftj he had admitted
so many articles, the raw produce of other countries, to be
imported duty free. To show his conshtencij Brougham now
said : —
" If am asked, Am I one of the League or one of the followers
of the League, or one of the allies or one of the accomplices of
the League ? I answer, God forbid ! From the members of tlie
Anti-corn-law League I differ even more than from, those who
stand forward as the friends and the advocates of Protection."
He then proceeded to argue that under a representative
monarchy (the best of all governments), the task of governing
the people should be left to the monarch and the representa-
tives elected by the people, without the people themselves
interferinor, and he stronfrly condemned a recommendation of
Lord Stanley, that before a complete change in our com-
mercial svstem, there oug:ht to be a dissolution of Parlia-
ment, so that the sense of the people might be taken
LIFE OF LORD BROUGnAM. 541
upon it. Being reminded, while speaking, by an irregular CJIAP.
interjection, of the dissolution during the " Eeform Bill," he
lations with
respect to
IVcl's re-
iiiaining in
ice.
said : — a.d. is+u.
" I do not mean to deny that there are cases of such vast and
paramount importance as absolute!}' to require that the Executive
Government should appeal to the people. If I were to single
out from all political questions any one upon wliich it is expe-
dient not to make these constant appeals to the people, I should
say it is precisely on such a question as this." *
Brouirham did not then foresee that when the measure
was carried. Peel himself, to spite the Protectionists, would
ascribe the victory to the unadorned eloquence of Ivichnrd
Cobden.
At the beginning of the Session, Brougham was sanguine ills ppe™
in the hope that the bill being carried by his assistance. Peel
would remain in office, and that there might be an official i^'«;i's i«
relationship established between them. And so it miglit have oiii
liappened if Disraeli had not been raised up as the unconscious
benefactor of the Whigs. But this consummate master of
vituperation, thinking to lay the foundation of a great party
to be formed from the defeated Protectionists, so exasperated
them against Peel, that they were willing to do anything to
be revenged upon him, and even to assist in restoring a
Whig Government.
Before the Corn Law Abolition Bill came up from the riietious
Commons to the House of Lords, there had been a division \vhj'|,s''nm[
there, portentous to the Peelites. I must confess, that upon Piotection-
cool reflection, I feel considerable remorse for the part I took tiie frovem-
upon this occasion in opiiosition to Brougham and Lyndhurst, 'T''"*, ^''1 ,
altliough at the moment, while under factious excitement, I ministra-
rejoiced in it. The Chancellor had introduced a bill for the |^|','^,.j'[|^,g
"Begidation of Charities," which was very objociionable in
some of its details, but which, I am now afraid, was right in
principle, and might have been so amended as to be made
salutary. However, the Protectionist Peers, in their rage
against the Government, oflcrod to vote against it (m tlio
♦ 83 IIuriHanl, 2ii.
542
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
VII.
A,D. 184G,
The Corn
Law Aboli-
tion Bill in
the House
of Lords.
Brougham's
eloge of Sir
K. Feel.
second reading, and the Whigs found the temptation into
which they were led too strong to be resisted.
The argument was against us, but the Protectionists were
with us, and upon a division we had a comfortable majority.
This sounded the knell of the Peelites, and Brougham had
before him the near and painful prospect of a Whig adminis-
tration. Still, however, the Corn Law Abolition Bill had not
passed the Lords, and the exact manner in which Sir Robert
Peel was to be ejected could not be foretold.
During the great debate on the second reading of the
Corn Law Abolition Bill in the Lords the House presented a
most singular spectacle, and many considered the result
doubtful. If the voting had been by ballot, there would
certainly have been a large majority of Non-contents. But
the Duke of Wellington exerted himself to the utmost
to carry the bill, as it had been recommended by the Crown
and was warmly approved of by the Commons. When peers
of his party came to him to say how they disliked it, and how
they wished to be allowed to vote against it, he said to them,
" You cannot dislike the bill more than I do, but we must all
vote for it." The Peelite peers in the Cabinet made a
wretched figure, for in the preceding month of November
they had tendered their resignation rather than agree to the
measure, and they were then, on principle, sincere and
strenuous Protectionists. The Whig leaders alone stood on
safe ground, as they had always been for Free Trade ;
when in ofiice they had proposed to abolish the sliding scale,
and they had to defend their own policy, adopted by their
opponents. Brougham answered Lord Stanley, — who having
left Peel and become the head of the Protectionist and high
Tory party, had laid himself open to attack by his estimate
of the unlimited quantity of wheat which might be suddenly
produced in the steppes of Eussia and thrown into the
English ports. However he was treated with much tender-
ness and courtesy by Brougham, who reserved his sarcasms
for the Whigs, and put forth all his strength in a panegyric
on Peel. This was his peroration : —
" I should fail of discharging a duty which I owe as a citizen
of this country, and as a member of this House — a debt of grati-
A.D, 1846.
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 543
tude on public grounds, but a debt of strict justice as well — did CHAP.
I not express my deep sense of the public virtue, no less than ^^^'
the great capacity and the high moral courage which my right
honourable friend at the head of the Govei-nment has exhibited
in dealing with this question. He cast awa}^ all personal and
private considerations of what description soevei', and, studiously
disregarding his own interest in every stage and step of his pro-
gfess, he has given up what to a political leader is the most
enviable of all positions, — the calm, unquestioned, undivided sup-
port of Parliament ; he has exposed himself to the frenzy of the
most tempest-troubled sea that the political world in our days
perhaps ever exhibited. He has given up what to an ambitious
man is much— the security of his power ; he has given up what
to a calculating man is much — influence and authority with his
party ; he has given up what to an amiable man is much indeed
— private friendships and party connexions ; and all these sacri-
fices he has voluntarily encountered, in order to discharge what
(be he right or be he wrong) he deemed a great public duty. He
in these circumstances — he in this proud position — may well
scorn the sordid attacks, the wretched ribaldry with which he is
out of doors assailed, because he knows that he has entitled him-
self to the gratitude of his country, and will leave — as I in mj?-
conscience believe — his name to after ages as one of the greatest
and most disinterested Ministers that ever wielded the destinies
of this country." *
The second reading was carried by a majority of forty-
seven, and thereby the principle of Free Trade Avas for ever
established in England, ere long to spread over the globe.
The bill having passed both Houses and received the royal Paei's ap-
assent, Peel only looked for the first opportunity of de- end.'^""''
cently retiring. It was rumoured that Brougham advised
him to remain, offering to "stand by him," but I have
no sufficient authority for this statement, which may have
originated merely from the notion of what was probable.
Although Peel's character afterwards rose very much in
public estimation from experience of the good consequences
of his policy, and from his violent and sudden dcatli,t
* 86 Hansard, 117G. The subsequent discussions on the bill were very
prolix and very uninteresting.
t The fame with posterity of a man's actions during liis life depends much
upon the time and manner of his death. If Peel had lived on in the common
routine of parliamentary warfare, and died of old age, he would have had no
544
KEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CilAr. ]ie f^^g i^ot at this time by any means generally popular.
'___ Not only was lie odious to the landed interest, but the
A.D. 184(). sudden wheel which he made on tlie question of tlie corn
laws — after that which he liad made on Catholic Emancipa-
tion — lowered him mucli in the estimation of many dispas-
sionate persons, who thought that if he had sincerely
changed his opinions upon such important measures, be
ought to have resigned and allowed them to be carried by
the party which had always supported them. He discovered
even tliat many of his own Subordinates now looked upon
him very coolly, complaining that he had encouraged them
at the last general election to advocate "Protection" when
he had resolved to abolish the corn laws, and that to gratify
his fantasy they were all now about to be thrown destitute
upon the wide world, whereas they might all have remained
comfortably in office for many' years to come. Therefore,
although he had once hoped to establish Free Trade and to
remain Minister, he was now fully aware of his true situation,
and he felt that not only was there a majority against him in
the present Parliament, but that upon a dissolution this
majority would very probably be increased.
His next measure pressed in the House of Commons was an
Irish Coercion Bill, which' had passed the Lords though
opposed by the Whigs, Brougham shunning all the discussions
upon it. The Tory Protectionists might rather have been
expected to support it, *
" For Tories know no argument but force."
On the contrary, they were impatient to throw it out. The
struggle took place on the second reading. The amendment
that the bill be read a second time that day six months was
taken as a vote of " want of confidence," and after a debate
25th June, of six niglits the amendment was carried by a majority of
seventy-three.*
A declaration to both Houses of the resignation of Ministers
Irish Coer-
cion Bill
Peel's coup
de grace.
Restoration
of the
Whi?s.
statues erected to his memory. Had Louis Philippe fallen fighting in the
insurrection of 1848, he would have been reckoned a great ■sovureigii. Mel-
bourne would have stood much better in history if he had died the day he
resigned in 1841, instead of languishing several years a paralytic.
* 87 Hansard, 1027.
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHA^I. 545
immediately followed, and Brouo^ham had the mortification t<-. CHAP.
* - - -- ATT
see a purely Whig Government re-established with Lord
John Eussell as Prime ilimster. However. I must do mv a.d. is46.
noble and learned friend the justice to say that he bore the
reverse with apparent good humour. On the day when the eth Juij.
new 3Iimsters were installed he very courteously congra-
tulated me on my elevation to the Cabinet as Chancellor of
the Ihichy of Lancaster, telling me I should now have ample
opportunity of seeing " quantula sapientia regatur mundus."
Hitherto Brougham had never sat on the same side of the
house with the Tories ; but the ^Miigs now taking possession
of the Ministerial benches on the right of tbe throne, he did
not go over with us, and as he remained behind on the
Opposition side, he might at last have truly said in defence
of his consistency, " the Tories have come over to me."
The new Government tested its strength bv a Free Trade *^'*°* ^'' '■'
Sugar Bill, making no distinction as to import duties between i846.
free-grown sugar and slave-grown sugar. This the Protec-
tionists, headed by Brougham, violently opposed under pre-
tence of an anxiety to put down slavery ; but the bUl was
carried by a large majority,* and the session closed with
auspicious prospects for the Russell Administration.
* 88 Hansaid, 467, 468.
YOlu Tin. 2 N
546
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAPTEE VIII.
1847—1852.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.D. 1847.
Brougham a
leader of
Opposition,
Combined
attaclc of
Brougham
and Stanley
on the
Chancellor
of the
Duchy of
Lancaster,
When Parliament met in the beginning of the following
year, Brougham boldly and openly avowed himself a leader
of the Opposition. He took part among the Protectionists in
line, fronting the Ministerialists, whom he was assailing.
When I congratulated Lord Stanley upon this accession to
his ranks, I warned him against the expectation of finding
the recruit well disciplined, and advised him to be contented
if he had the "irregular services of a Cossack." No one
understood him better than Stanley, who was well pleased
while in opposition to court him by all reasonable com-
pliances, but was always cautious not to form any liaison
with him which might be embarrassing when the time should
come for forming a new Government.
Brougham was exceedingly active during the whole of this
session, but he could do no effectual injury to the Govern-
ment ; for as the Peelite peers hated Protectionists more
than Whigs, we could command a majority on every division.
I now avoided personal altercations with my "noble and
learned friend," and handed him over to the new Lord
Grey — become a member of the Upper House and Colonial
Secretary — who still fostering the notion that Brougham,
when Chancellor, had behaved treacherously to the illustrious
author of the Eeform Bill, took great delight in any favour-
able opportunity for attacking him.
I was obliged, however, to enter the lists when Stanley
and Brougham combined against me respecting the appoint-
ment of four extraordinary members of the Council of the
Duchy of Lancaster. I successfully turned the matter into
ridicule, and said that I wanted assistance to manage the
agricultural affairs of the Duchy, for here I was as ignorant
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 547
as my noble and learned friend, who, when the famous Mr. CHAP.
. VIII
Coke (afterwards Earl of Leicester) showed him a luxuriant ^_
field of drilled wheat, exclaimed, " What beautiful lavender a.d. 1847,
you raise in Norfolk." Brougham renewed the laughter
against himself by asserting that he was well acquainted
with the difference between ivlieat and lavender, and that the
story was a weak invention of the enemy.
To make it all up I invited him and Stanley to dine with Dinner to
me, that I might introduce them to the new Councillors orp^Jtions
of the Duchy. They very good-naturedly accepted, and, at strath-
meeting likewise Lord John Eussell, Lyndhurst, and several
other leaders of contending factions, we made a " happy
family," and had a very merry evening. During a lamenta-
tion upon the usual dullness of the House of Lords,
Brougham rather took this as a reflection upon himself, who
was the most constant performer there, and he declared that
he had made better speeches in the House of Lords than he
had ever made in the House of Commons. I could only
compare him to Milton, who preferred ' Paradise Regained '
to 'Paradise Lost,'
A few days before the prorogation he made a very long 23idJuiy.
and elaborate, but very unsuccessful speech, taking a review Brougham's
of the session, in imitation of Lyndhurst. He first heavily attempting
blamed Ministers for all they had done, and much which they ^° '^^^^^^^
had omitted to do in the Upper House, He then descended in a review
into the inferior region of the House of Commons, quoting
the well-known lines : —
" Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram,
Perque domos Ditis vacuas, et inania regna."
Where nothing could be seen but the ghosts of slaughtered
bUls—
" Impositique rogis juvenes ante ora parentum."
He concluded by expressing a hope of better things from
the approaching dissolution and general election.
" When the Parliament was again restored to its functions, he
trusted he should never again have to witness or to lament over
the history of such a Session — a Session disheartening and dis-
appointing to the people ; ruinous to the character of the Govern-
ment ; injurious even to the Constitution, and damaging beyond
2 N 2
of the Ses-
sion.
548 REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, the power of language to describe to the reputation of this great
country all over the world." *
A.D. 1847. The truth was that the attention of the Government and
of the public had been almost exclusively devoted to the
measures brought forward to alleviate the suiferings of Ire-
land from famine and pestilence ; and Lyndhurst, finding
that he could on this occasion make nothing of his annual
review, cunningly asked Brougham to undertake it, and
added to his own fame by the failure of a rival.
Brougham had the mortiincation to find that the elections
went strongly in favour of the Whig Government, and he
was so much disappointed that, during the short session of
Parliament held in the autumn, he confined himself to a
few desultory speeches every evening on presenting petitions.
Brougham Sacrificing the pleasure he usually enjoyed at this season
tiToudi the °^ *^^^ y®^^ ^^ breathing the soft breezes of Provence, he con-
autumn in tinued amidst the foffs of London till Christmas, attendius:
° * the sittings of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Coun-
cil, and watching over the declining health of the Lord
Chancellor.
Intrigues in In the end of November Lord Cottenham burst a blood-
of"he*^dan-" ^^'^scl, and it was generally supposed that he never would sit in
gerous ill- Court again. While I was reading one evening in the Library of
Lord Chan- the Housc of Loi'ds, Brougham came up to me, and the following
ceiior. dialogue passed between us : B. — " Since Denman's Act makes
a witness who is interested competent to give evidence, tell me
how Cottenham is." C. — " I hear it reported that you are to
succeed him." B. — " If I were to take the Great Seal again,
my first proceeding ought to be to seal a commission of lunacy
against myself." C. — " Nevertheless some say that you are
the only man now fit to be Chancellor." B. — "I assure you
I never wished to have the Great Seal back again after I had
resigned it. If Melbourne had only treated me with common
courtesy, we never need have quarrelled ; and what madness
would it be now for me to take such an office when I have
no child to be the better for my toils." Here the tears came
* 94 Hansard, 570.
LIFE OF LOED BEOUGHAM. 549
into bis eyes and rolled down his cheeks. C. — "But one C'HAP.
. VIII.
difficulty is, that Cottenham is recovering, and talks of sitting
in Court again next week." J5. — "If he makes that attempt, a.d. 1847.
a commission of lunacy ought to be sealed against him. The
blood-vessel, though a small one, was in his lungs. Now is
vour time." He returned to his difference with the Whigs,
which he said was all Melbourne's fault. I observed with
perfect sincerity that " I thought it was a most unfortunate
occurrence, and that I had always deeply regretted it."
Cottenham grew worse, and a paragraph appeared in
the newspapers stating that I w'as likely to be the new
Chancellor. This brought out a series of scurrilous articles
in the ' Morning Herald ' (Brougham's organ), vilifying
me, and attempting to prove that I was wholly unfit for
the office. In the morning when one of these appeared, as I
was walking through the Horse Guards to the Judicial Com-
mittee in Downing Street, Brougham's carriage drove thi'ough
at a quick pace, and nearly knocked me over without his
seeing me. When we met I told him of my narrow escape,
adding, " You seem strongly inclined to run me down"
It so happened that we now had an Equity appeal from
Jamaica to dispose of. With the strange insincerity and
inconsistency of his character he whispered in my ear, " You
must deliver the judgment in this case. It would have a bad
effect at this time if you were to appear to shii-k it." And
he actually contrived to have the task assigned to me of
delivering the judgment.
A few days after, Edward Ellice took me into a corner at
Brookes's and spoke thus: — "Well, I believe all is going
right. Johnny has been to consult Melbourne, who I know is
on your side. This morning whom did I see at l^Felboume's
but Brouofham ? when Melbourne, who is the indiscreetest
of mankind, said to him, ' You must lay your account with
seeing Jack Campbell Chancellor.' Brougham then inveighed
against you, and said he would never sit in the House of
Lords with such a Chancellor ; declared that it would be a
mad appointment, as it would disgust the Equity bar, and a
bad one for the public, as you would not venture to overrule
550
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.D. 1847.
A.n. !848
State of
France.
Brougham
tries to be-
come a na-
turalised
French citi-
zen and a
Deputy to
the National
Assembly.
the Vice-Chancellors ; that Eolfe was the man who would
please the profession and the Peers. I said, 'Campbell is
the very man to do his duty boldly ; although I should have
been better pleased to see him Chief Justice of the Queen's
Bench, if Denman were to resign.' He declared that you were
equally unfit for that office, and that what law you might ever
have had you must have forgotten. Melbourne said, ' Never-
theless, Brougham, you must be prepared to see Jack holding
tlie Great Seal.' "
Whimsical change ! Brougham and Lord Melbourne in
familiar intercourse — gossiping about giving away the Great
Seal after their bitter quarrel and mortal enmity, occasioned
by this " pestiferous bauble " !
In the beginning of January Cottenham recovered, the
articles against me in the ' Herald ' ceased to appear, and
Brougham went to his chateau at Cannes.
Passing through Paris he, as usual, paid his respects to
Louis Philippe, and attended a meeting of the Institute.
Paris was a little agitated by the coming political banquets
which the Government had prohibited; but although there
was a considerable outcry about the "Spanish marriages,"
no serious apprehension was entertained, and the Orleans
dynasty seemed firmly fixed upon the throne of France.
The only doubt was whether the aged Sovereign would
survive till his grandson, the Comte de Paris, should be
of age. Louis Philippe, jumping over a rail to show his
agility and strength, exclaimed prophetically and truly, " H
n'y aura pas de regence."
There was no regency ; for in a few weeks Louis Philippe
was an exile, and his dynasty was overthrown.
Brougham was at his chateau near Cannes when the Revo-
lution took place, which placed France under the arbitrary
rule of the Provisional Government formed by the con-
tributors to a newspaper. It might have been supposed
that he would immediately fly to England, and assist by
his advice in guarding his native country from the new
perils with which she was tlireatened. But a strange
phantasy entered his brain. The Provisional Government
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 551
had called a National Assembly, to be elected by universal CHAP,
suffrage, "all Frenchmen of the age of twenty-one years
to be electors, and all Frenchmen of twenty-five years ^ p. 1848.
to be eligible," with an allowance of twenty-five fi-ancs a
day to each deputy during the session. The department of
the Var, in which Brougham's chateau stands, was to have
nine deputies. Many candidates came forward, in the
hope of being enriched by the promised daily stipend : but
Brougham had far loftier views. He counted with certainty
on making a distinguished figure in the Assembly by his
eloquence, and he sanguinely believed that, from his superior
knowledge of parliamentary tactics, he might gain such an
ascendancy as to be elected President, and so guide the des-
tinies of France, of Europe, and of the world. He announced
himself as a candidate for the department of the Var, and he
was well received by the inhabitants of Cannes, who were
flattered by the preference he had shown for them, who were
pleased by his popular manners, and who hoped by his influ-
ence to obtain another subvention for the completion of their
harbour. He knew that Tom Paine, Anacharsis Clootz, and
several other foreigners, had sat in the first National Assem-
bly, and, having been long a jiroprietaire in France, he did
not anticipate any difficulty from his having been born in
Scotland. He was told by the authorities of his depart-
ment that, before he could either vote or be elected, as he
had no qualification by birth, he must produce an " acte de
naturalisation," but that this might easily be obtained at
Paris upon the formal certificates which would be forwarded
to the ]\Iinister of Justice.
To Paris accordingly he posted — meeting (as he afterwards
told me) trees of Liberty planted in every town and village
through which he travelled, ^^'ith the inscription Liberie,
Egalite, Fraternite. He asserted that during his whole
journey he refused the usual homage demanded of travel-
lers — to be uncovered, and to repeat these mystical words —
as he foresaw that the madness of the people would be short-
lived. Nay, he added that he sometimes harangued them at
considerable length, in the hope of bringing them to a better
552
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIxi.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.D, 1848.
Correspond-
ence with
the Minister
of Justice.
mind. But it is difficult to conceive how at the beainninff of
his candidature he should be guilty of such imprudence.
Although he smarted under the forced payment of the "addi-
tional centimes " — a tax imposed by the Provisional Govern-
ment under the despotic power which they had assumed —
he must have been reluctant to insult the emblems of the
regime which he was to swear that he would support.
As soon as he reached Paris he addressed a letter to Citoyen
Cremieux, Minister of Justice, and the following correspond-
ence passed between them : —
" Paris, April 7th, 1818.
" Lord Brougham has the honour to oflFer his respects to the
Minister of Justice ; and wishing to be naturalised in France, he
has demanded certificates from the Mayor of Cannes (Var), where
he has resided for the last thirteen years, and where he possesses
a landed estate, and has built for himself a countiy house
(chateau). Those certificates are to be forwarded directly to the
Minister of Justice, and Lord Brougham requests the Minister to
transmit to him the act of naturalisation with as little delay as
possible."
" The Minister of Justice to Lord Brougham.
" Paris, April 8th, 1848.
"My Lord, — I must apprise you of the consequences of the
naturalisation you demand, should you obtain it. If France
adopts you for one of her sons, you cease to be an Englishman ;
you are no longer Lord Brougham, you become citizen Brougham.
You lose forthwith all titles of nobility, all privileges, all advan-
tages, of whatever nature they may be, which you possessed,
either in your quality of Englishman, or by virtue of rights
hitherto conferred upon you by British laws or customs, and
which cannot harmonise with our law of equality between all
citizens. This would be the effect, my lord, even did not the
British laws possess that rigour with regard to those British
citizens who demand and obtain their naturalisation in foreign
countries. It is in this sense that you must write to me. I
must presume that the late British Chancellor is aware of the
necessary consequences of so important a demand. But it is the
duty of the Minister of Justice of the French Republic to warn you
officially. When you shall have made a demand in form em-
bracing these declarations, it shall be immediately examined.
" A. Cremieux."
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 553
Brongliam was mucli surprised and mortified by this rebuff. CHAP.
His vision of Gallic greatness vanished ; he could no longer '
even expect the honour of delivering a speech in the National a.d. 1848.
Assembly, and he was afraid of the ridicule to which this un-
successful attempt might expose him among his friends of
the Institute. He therefore resolved to proceed immediately
to England. There, at any rate, he must have agreeable
excitement, and his abortive citizenship would escape notice
in the crisis which seemed approaching, for the 10th of April
was the day fixed for the Chartist insurrection in London.
During his passage across the Channel, however, he thought
that he might answer the objections to his naturalisation, and
possibly gain his object, without sacrificing his English peerage
and his English pension. Accordingly, the moment he entered
his house in Grafton Street, without consulting any human
being, he wrote and despatched the following missive : —
"London, AprU 10th, 1848.
" Monsieur le Ministre, — I have the honour to acknowledge
the receipt of your obliging letter of the 8th. I never doubted
that by caiising myself to be naturalised a French citizen I
should lose all mj rights as a British Peer and a British subject
in France. I will retain my privileges as an Englishman only
in England; in France I should be all that the laws of France
accord to the citizens of the Eepublic. As I desire above all, the
happiness of the two countries, and their mutual peace, I thought
it my duty to give a proof of my confidence in the French insti-
tutions, to encourage my English countrymen to confide in them
as I do.
" H. Brougham."
The following answer was received in course of post : —
" Paris, AprU 12th, 1848.
" My Lord, — My letter has not been understood. Yours, to my
great regi-et, does not permit me to comply with your demand.
You do me the honour to write to me, ' I never doubted,' &c.
[Copying Lord B.'s letter.] I used the clearest and most positive
expressions in my letter. France admits no partition — she
admits not that a French citizen shall at the same time be the
citizen of another country. In order to become a Frenchman,
you must cease to be an Englishman. You cannot be an English-
man in England, and a Frenchman in France; our laws are
absolutely opposed to it. You must necessarily choose. It was
554
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOKIA.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.D. 1848.
Citizen
Brougham
ill the
House of
Lords.
for that reason that I took care to explain to you the conse-
quences of naturalisation. In that position, therefore, and as
long as you will remain an Englishman in England, — that is to
say, as long as you will not abdicate completely and every-
where your quality of British subject, and exchange it for that
of French citizen, it is impossible for me to give effect to your
demand.
"A. Cremieux."
The correspondence was closed by a short note from
Brougham to the Minister of Justice, formally renouncing all
naturalisation in France.
At the meeting of the House of Lords in the evening ot
the lOtli of April, when, by the judicious dispositions made
under the advice of the Duke of AVellington, and, still more,
by the good sense and spirited firmness of the great mass
of the population of the metropolis, the Chartist movement,
which many thought would revolutionise England, had proved
an utter failure. Brougham presented himself in the House
of Lords and took part in the discussion, as if he had never
contemplated a divided allegiance, and he gave notice of
a motion for the next day, that he might review the
recent revolutionary proceedings in France, in Italy, and in
Germany.
But the hope that his citizenship would pass unnoticed
was disappointed. The Provisional Government having heard
that he wished to enter the Assembly with no friendly inten-
tions, not only refused his request, but immediately stated in
one of their journals (the ' Eeforme ') that he had applied to
be naturalised as a French citizen, and in a few days published
in the ' National ' the whole of the correspondence between
him and the Minister of Justice — to the great amusement of
France and of England. In his elaborate speech on the
11th of April he animadverted with much severity upon the
Provisional Government in the country which he had recently
visited. Thus he launched his sarcasms at his fellow-citizens
with whom he still wished to fraternise : —
" I dispute not the right of five-and-thirty millions to bear the
dominion of twenty thousand ; and of the things which the chiefs
of these men are now doing every day in the name of the whole
people we have no right to comj^lain; the fruits, the bitter fruits.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 555
will be gathered by themselves. My prayer is that they may be CHAP,
less bitter than I dread and believe." * ^'^^^•
Lord Lansdowne, in answering him, observed that the a.d. 1848,
expression of these sentiments gave him particular satisfac-
tion, as they showed that there could be no foundation for
the strange rumour which had been set afloat, that his noble
and learned friend wished to become a naturalised French
citizen, with a view of leading the debates in the French
National Assembly, instead of continuing the ornament of
their Lordships' House, in which he had presided with so
much lustre.
He was treated with much severity by the press, both
French and English. I shall give only two specimens. The
' National ' of Aj)ril 18, 1848, contained a paragraph, of which
the following is a literal translation : —
" So it was really no joke after all ! Lord Henri Brougham Articles on
really wished to become a citizen of France, and addressed a Biouo-ham
formal demand to that effect to our Provisional Government ! It in the
is incredible, but true nevertheless. His Lordship, however, by y^i\ '^"'^
no means intended to surrender his privileges as an English ne\vs2iai)ers.
citizen. Milord wished to amalgamate the two. France is a
beautiful country, no doubt ; but England has also its attrac-
tions, which are not to be voluntarily abandoned. How to
reconcile this double inclination ? Milord had discovered a very
ingenious plan, the contraction of a second marriage without
dissolving the first. We remember hearing the story of the
condudetir of a diligence who had one wife at Pans and another
at Toulon, who went on very amicably fur a while, but at last
the Toulon wife paid a visit to Paris, and discovered her rival.
Lord Brougham conceived an idea not altogether dissimilar ; in
short, he contemplated the perpetration of a political bigamy !
How will prudish England receive such a disclosure? "We
cannot tell ; but we confess that were we in the place of milord,
we should feel slightly embarrassed. Let him extricate himself
as he best can. Fortunately for us, it is his affair, and not ours."
And the following is part of a leading article in the * Times '
of the same date : —
" All who remember English history for the last forty years,
speak of Henry Brougham as the most eccentric figure in that
* 98 Hansard, 143.
556 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOKIA. '
CHAP, eventful period. So much of greatness in words, and so little
|__ dignity in action, have never been found in the same individual.
4D 1848 -^0^ shaking the House of Commons with his eloquence, and
now exciting the laughter of schoolboys, still it is the same mar-
vellous man. Lord Brougham has just thrown the highest
somersault that he has ever accomplished. It is not sxxfificient
for him to have played the Edinburgh Eeviewer, the English
Barrister, to have propounded startling theories in science, to
have been created an English Peer, to have translated Demos-
thenes, and to have passed himself as the greatest orator of his
age, — like Alexander, he sighed for other worlds, not to conquer,
but in which to display his eccentricities. ... A National
Convention is still open to the Citoyen Brougliam. He may yet
rival Vergniand in eloquence, and employ the remainder of his
life in reconstituting civilisation in France. For this turbid pre-
eminence we find him almost ready to sacrifice ermine, coronet,
pension, and all. When sacrificed at last before the rising
demagogues of the new Mountain, and led oif to the Place de la
Eepublique in a cart, he will devote the brief minutes of his
passage to chanting, with sincere enthusiasm and strong Nor-
thumbrian burr,
• Moiirir pom- la Patrie,
C'est le sort le plus beau et le plus digne d'envie.' "
JSTo other man than Brougham could have recovered from
the unextinguishable ridicule which now seemed to overwhelm
him. But I have already had occasion to celebrate the sin-
gular faculty which he possessed of again rising to the surface
when it was thought he had sunk to rise no more, and of
afterwards pursuing his course as if no misfortune had befallen
him. He continued to speak every night upon every subject,
except his correspondence with M. Cremieux. The nickname
of " Citizen Brougham " did not fix itself upon him, as might
have been expected, and at the end of a month it was forgotten
that he had ever aspired to lead the debates in the Frencli
National Assembly.
Brougham During the remainder of this Session his hostility to the
thTwhiv Government was much mitigated. He gave me very
Govern- powerful support in carrying through the House of Lords
a bill for amending the marriage law of Scotland. This
was framed upon the principle that tlie parties should be
allowed to enter into the most important of all contracts
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 557
with any relioions ceremonv, or without any reliR-ious cere- CHAP.
^ o .^ JO VIII
mony, as they pleased, — but by some palpable form, capable
of easy and certain proof. Brougham discussed the subject a.d. 1848.
several times with great force and effect, and although the
bill had been strongly opposed at first, it was read a third
time with one dissentient voice — that of the Earl of Aberdeen
— who (as Brougham asserted) insisted upon marriage being
retrospectively established by verbal acknowledgment, out of
respect for the memory of his grandmother, who had never
been married at all, but had been made an honest woman of
by acknowledgment long after the birth of her son, the present
Earl's father. This joke reached his Lordship's ear and exas-
perated him so much that he vowed he would have the bill
thrown out in the Commons ; and as he showed much more
vigour in opposing it than he afterwards did in opposing the
Czar of Eussia, he triumphed. Cunningly appealing to the
thrift of the Scottish members, in canvassing them he con-
trived to persuade them that the registration of the marriage,
which the bill required, would bring a heavy pecuniary burden
upon Scotland. Thus Gretna Green still flourishes, and many
persons in Scotland are unable to tell whether they are married
or single, and many others whether they are legitimate or
bastards.
Such an entente eordiale was there now between my noble Jiy vi.-it to
and learned friend and myself, that I could no longer refuse Biouo^ham
his often-repeated invitation that I would visit him in West- ^^^^•
morland. So, after the prorogation, accompanied by my
wife and one of my daughters, I entered his mansion, for-
merly "Brougham Hall" — now simply "Brougham."
We were most hospitably and kindly received, and spent 5thSei>t.
several days very agreeably in exploring the romantic beauties
of Westmorland, and conversing with my " noble and learned
friend." I really believe that both he and I were quite sin-
cere for the moment in testifying good-will towards each
other. Indeed I still feel, not only regret, but something
savouring of remorse, when I am obliged, as a faithful bio-
grapher, to record anything which may seem not altogether
to the credit of one with ^^ horn I have spent so many pleasant
hours.
558
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
vin.
A.D. 1849.
Brougham
enlists with
the Piotec-
tionists.
He resists
the repeal
of the Na-
vigation
Laws.
I did not see liim again till the commencement of the
following Session of Parliament in February, 1849. He then
regularly enlisted himself under the Protectionist banner, and
with respect to ivMps, proxy, pairing, and divisions, was con-
sidered one of that party as much as Lord Hardwicke, Lord
Salisbury, Lord Eedesdale, or any other of their oldest and
most devoted adherents.
A Ministerial crisis was now expected from the proposal
of the Whigs to abolish the Navigation Laws. All who
had enlightened and disinterested views upon the subject had
come to the conclusion that " free trade " could not be said to
be established till commodities could be conveyed from one
port to another in ships that might sail the fastest and at the
lowest freight, whatever country they might belong to, and
by whatever crew they might be worked. Therefore, after
great deliberation, Lord John Russell's Cabinet resolved
unanimously to bring forward a bill to abolish the Navigation
Laws, and to stake our existence on its success. But the
measure was by no means so popular as the repeal of the Corn
Laws. All British shipholders thought that they had an
interest in preserving their monopoly ; our seamen were told
they would starve when Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, who
could live on bread made of the bark of trees, were permitted
to come into competition with them ; and a very general pre-
judice prevailed, even among men of education not engaged
in commerce, that our naval greatness depended upon pre-
venting foreign ships from trading to our colonies, and re-
quiring that commodities, the growth or manufacture of foreign
countries, should be imported into the United Kingdom either
in British ships or in ships of the country in which the com-
modities are grown or manufactured. As Brougham had
always gloried in being the apostle of Free Trade, and had
assumed to himself much of the merit of at last sweeping
away the Corn Laws, it might have been expected that he
would be the philosophic statesman and powerful orator who
would on this occasion quell the mercenary cry of self-interest
dispel the delusion of the misguided, and, carrying out the
principles of Free Trade to their legitimate results, would have
quieted the apprehensions of well-meaning ignorance. But,
LIFE OF LOKD BK0UGHA3I. 559
on the contrary, he placed himself at the head of the oppo- CHAP,
nents of the Ministerial measure, and, in the most unscrupnlons ^"^'
manner, called sordid self-interest, " crass ignorance," and A.r.. isid.
vulgar prejudice to his aid. When the grand battle was to
be fought in the House of Lords on the second reading of
the bill, it had been arranged by Lord Stanley that Lord
Colchester, an old naval officer, should lead the assault ; but
Brougham superseded him, his zeal and impatience being
kindled to the highest pitch by the intelligence he received
that, on counting the forces on both sides, the Protectionists
had superior numbers present in the House, and were sure of
victory.
He began, as usual, with a panegyric on his own con-
sistency, and asserted that from the year of grace 1801,
when he began to write his book on Colonial Policy, down to
the year of grace 1849, when he was addressing their Lord-
ships, he had always stood up for the same doctrines in
political economy as well as in every other department of
political science; he allowed that the best and cheapest
conveyance of goods from port to port should be permitted
for the benefit of commerce — but then he went on to show at
prodigious length that the naval greatness of England, and
the safety of the country from foreign invasion, required that
we should adhere to the navigation laws, which had been
enacted by the wisdom of our ancestors, and which every
succeeding generation of English statesmen had applauded.
He, of course, made much of Adam Smith having considered
the English navigation laws wise and wholesome, and an
illustrious exception to the general rule that trade should be
free. A speech of three hours he thus concluded — alluding
to the threat of Ministers to resign if they were beaten, and
the probability of this threat being carried into execution : —
"I do not, on any account whatever, either public or private,
from any feeling whether of a general or personal kind, desire to
see a change of the Government. But the risk of any change I
am prepared to meet rather than see the highest interests of the
empire exposed to ruin. This measure I never can bear, because
the national defence will not bear it. All lesser considerations
of party policy or parliamentary tactics at once give way ; and I
560
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.D. 1849.
Defeat of
Broiigliam
,111(1 the
Pi-otection-
ists.
have a question before me on wliich I cannot pause or falter, or
treat or compromise. I know my duty, and I will perform it :
as an honest man, an Englishman, a peer of Parliament, I wull
lift that voice to resist the further progress of the bill."*
After a second night's debate tlie division took place, and
Brougham's anticipation of triumph seemed verified, for of
the peers present only 105 said content and 119 said non-
content, giving the Protectionists a majority of 14. But
proxies were called, and the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and
all the peers holding diplomatic appointments on the conti-
nent of Europe, with other noble Government functionaries
who were absent, having left their proxies with Lord Lans-
downe, there were 44 absentees who supported the Navigation
Laws, while 68 absentees condemned them. So the bill was
read a second time by a majority of 10.
Articles appeared in the ' Morning Herald ' on the abuse
of proxies, and the Lords were threatened, not only with the
loss of their anomalous privilege of voting without listening
to the arguments for or against the proposition to be deter-
mined, but with an entire subversion of all their constitutional
powers. ]\Ieanwhile it was felt that the crisis was over,
that Free Trade had triumphed, and that the Government
was safe. Brougham and Lord Stanley expressed a confident
hope that in the committee on the bill (where, according to
well-established usage, proxies are not admitted) they should
so mutilate the bill as to render it harmless ; and in the
committee they moved an amendment to effectuate their
object ; but this was not considered fair parliamentary war-
fare ; the muster of Protectionist peers fell off, and the
amendment was rejected by a majority of 13.
Brougham had been very sanguine, and was deeply morti-
fied, but he affected hilarity, and allowed himself to be
rallied by his familiars upon his disappointment. While the
Navigation Bill was depending, I happened to call upon him
one morniug in Grafton Street to talk to him about a Scotch
appeal, and was shown into his library. He soon rushed in
* According to Ms practice wlien he had made what he considered a great
speech, he published this speech, " revised by himself," as a pamphlet.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 5(J1
very eagerly, but suddenly stopped short, exclaimiug, " Lord CHAP,
bless me, is it you ? tbey told me it was Stanley ; " and "
notwithstanding his accustomed frank and courteous manner, a.d. is+y.
I had some difficulty in fixing his attention. In the
evening I stepped across the House to the Opposition
Bench where Brougham and Stanley were sitting next each
other, and addressing the latter in the hearing of the former,
I said, — '-'Has our noble and learned friend told you the
disappointment he suffered this morning ? He thought he
had a visit from the Leader of the Protectionists to offer
him the Great Seal, and it turned out to be only Campbell
come to bore him about a point of Scotch law." Brougham :
" Don't mind what Jack Campbell says ; he has a pre-
scriptive privilege to tell lies of all Chancellors dead and
living."
Many jokes were cu'culated against Brougham on this
occasion. A few days after his great sj)eech I myself heard
Lyndhuvst say to him, — "Brougham, here is a riddle for
you. Why does Lord Brougham know so much about the
Navigation Latvs ? Ansiver : Because he has been so long
engaged in the Seal fishery."
During the remainder of this session Brougham continued
exceedingly factious. He supported the bill I brought in
to enable the Government to transport Smith O'Brien, con-
victed of high treason, instead of hanging and beheading
him as the convict himself required; but he vigorously
opposed almost every other bill of which I had the charge —
particularly the L-ish Encumbered Estates Bill — whicli has
done more to tranquillize and to civilize Ireland than any
other Saxon measure.
Having acted as Lord Commissioner in proroguing Parlia- 1st Aug.
ment, I parted with Brougham on rather unfriendly terms,
and I laid my account with his continuing pertinaciously in
every way to hinder my advancement. But (strange to
recollect) he had now formed the resolution that I should Brougham
succeed Lord Denman in the Queen's Bench ; and, if I had 2e^^p"
been his own brother, he could not more zealously have cii'^'Jus-
ticG or IjII'^"
exerted himself to accomplish that object. During the ia,id.
autumn I received several letters from him on the subject.
VOL. viii. 2 o
562 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAP. The last, beo-inninpi; " My dear C, vulqo dearest Jack,"
VIII. ' O O . ' ./
'__ contains the following postscript : —
A.D. 1849, " Between you and me, Denman will never sit again. My own
opinion is that yon must take it. Then if Cottenhani goes you can
easily slide in there. I have given this as my decided opinion to
all inquiring friends. I am ready to stand by you to the death in
BOTH arrangements, and in H. of Lords. This I do partly for your
own sake, partly for the public ; and you are at full liberty to
quote me if of any use.
" Yours,
"H. B."
In December the great " Gorham Case " upon " Baptismal
Eegeneration " stood for hearing before the Judicial Com-
mittee of the Privy Council, and Brougham, who was then at
Cannes, was very desirous of having it postponed that he
might preside when it was adjudged. He had vast delight in
playing the judge in any cause cSlebre. " II s'amuse a juger,"
said a Frenchman who had visited England and knew him
well. When the occasion required he would boldly plunge
into ecclesiastical law, and he had gained much notoriety by
a judgment which he wrote upon the question whether a
clergyman of the Church of England was bound to read the
burial service over a child which had been baptized by a
dissenting minister — not by a priest episcopally ordained.
He admitted that the dissenting minister was only to be
considered a layman, but he showed that lay baptism, in the
form prescribed in the Gospels, is, according to the usage of
the early Christians, the authority of the Fathers, the decrees
of general councils and canons of the Church of England,
sufBcient to purge original sin and to convey saving grace,
tanquam instrumento* He would, no doubt, very learnedly
have discussed the question whether " prevenient grace "
was necessary to give full spmtual effect to the sacrament of
* Dr. Philpotts, Bishop of Exeter, in talking over this judgment witli me,
allowed it to be nhl; but insisted that it was defective, by omitting the qualifi-
cation that lay baptism, to be effectual, must be administered by a lay man or
woman in communion tcith the Church, and that it is unavailing if administered
by a Dissenting minister, who must be considered a heretic or a schismatic.
Such, however, is not the doctrine of the Church of England ; and Brougham's
judgment is still considered good law.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 563
baptism; but we could not decently keep the public tbree CHAr.
months longer in suspense to suit his convenience. I wrote to
say that postponement was impossible, and explained to a.d. 1849.
him the difficulty of putting off the hearing of a case
upon which so much depended. In truth we were rather
glad to dispose of it in his absence, for we were not sure
what yiew he might have taken of it. In the course of
the discussion there would have been great danger of his
saying something which would have scandalized either the
party inclining to Romanism or the party inclining to
Calvinism, and for tlie peace of the Church we were glad
to be able to decide, with the approbation of the two Arch-
bishops, that Gorham, notwithstanding his opinion upon the
necessity of " prevenient grace," was entitled to be inducted
and instituted.
Brougham was now deeply engaged in a course of experi- Brougham
ments upon Light. He had told me tliat he had made a himsdfto
great discovery which " Newton had nearly approached, but s<^'ence.
had not reached." In passing through Paris, he explained it
in a lecture to the Institute, assisted by diagrams which he His lecture
drew with chalk on a black board. I have been told that his the French
brethren all showed great self-command in keeping their Institute.
countenances while he addressed them in French (or, as
Macaulay calls it, in " Brouglimee "), but that, in spite of all
their politeness, some of them did smile a little at the
supposed discovery, and the fluctional calculations by which
it was proved and illustrated. The lecture was afterwards
written out by him and published in the ' Transactions of the
Institute.' A copy of it, which he was good enough to
present to me, now lies before me,* but I must confess my
inability to criticise it. This, however, I will boldly say that
Brougham must be a very extraordinary man to have de-
livered such a lecture, whatever solecisms in language or in
science he may inadvertently have fallen into. Neither
Lord Bacon nor Newton himself ever performed such a feat, and
* Institut Imperial de France. 'Recherchea Experimeiitalcs et Analy-
tiques sur la LumiiTc' Par Henri Lord Brougham, Associ6 Etranger de
rinstitut Imperial, et Membre de la Socie'te lioyalc de Londies et do
1 Acade'mie Royale de Naples.
2 2
564 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, altliouorh Cicero did declaim in Greek, lie confined himself
VIII
'__ to literary subjects without venturing to rival Archimedes,
A.D. 1850. When Brougham returned to London, in the end of January,
1850, he strove to bring about the resignation of Lord Denman
and the appointment of myself to be Chief Justice, as if
he had had no other object in this world. The latter event
had been settled three months before, upon the contingency
of the former, which had become very desirable for the
public good, but was extremely doubtful from mental malady.
By Brougham's friendly interposition the necessity for any
interference of the two Houses of Parliament was obviated,
and the succession took place without the public being made
aware of the difficulties which had retarded it.
I select from his correspondence at this time the letter
containing Brougham's admonitions to guide me on my
elevation to the bench, which appear to me very sensible,
although it may be thought that they show that he con-
sidered Himself the heau ideal of a perfect judge : —
*• Grafton-street, Wednesday Evening.
Brougham's " My DEAR C. — As you are now Chief Justice, I will use a court
a vice freedom. I advised Denman, and also Wilde; the former fol-
becoming a lowed my advice, and benefited ; the latter's habits were too
Judge. strong, and he did not follow, and was the worse for it.
" Don't suppose the truisms I am going to give out are therefore
valueless. They are really all the better.
"First. I beg of you to regard your first week as your most im-
portant, even on circuit ; certainly in banc. All the impression
a man is ever to make does not turn on his start, but nine parts
in ten do ; and if the start is inauspicious, he has an uphill work
to do for long and long.
" I had some luck in immediately on entering Chancery having
a good case to start on (an old client of yours, De Tastet), and I
overruled bad bankrupt law of Mansfield (Sir J.). The benefit I
had hence, and of a judgment in Dom. Proc, the day I first sat
there, was inconceivable. My arrears prevented me from retain-
ing my first gains. But I afterwards, by written judgments
(quite necessary), recovered lost ground. Therefore I repeat,
consider everj^ one matter as a difficult thing to be got over by
diligent care, and expend your entire force on every one thing,
small as well as great, for the first week or two ; afterwards you
can afford to take your own ease in your own court.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 565
(i
A.D. l^bO.
Second. I need not remind yon of the fatal error Scarlett, CHAP.
Pollock, and others made of thinking lightly of judicial diflficnl-
ties, because they had been leaders, and not pleaders. No doubt
your business is to take large views like a leader, but nine parts
in ten of your work is akin to the pleader's ways. This is an
error you are not the least in risk of fiillina; into.
" Third. Politics are now not forbidden ground — but ground
rarely to be trodden. However, even party votes, and, in cases
of great gravity, debate, are by no means to be considered out of
your sphere ; for why ? those subjects ma}' be such as you must
conscientiously deem important, and calling fur your inter-
position.
" Fourth. After Denman has set the fashion, and been followed
by Lyndhi^rst, I hardly require a return to the wig and gown, to
which my own very decided opinion inclines. Consider this —
I am unprejudiced.
" Lastly. 1 really think it right for both yourself and the
public that you occasionally attend the Privy Council ; for
example, in such cases as the * Shrievalty.
" Excuse these matters, prompted by regard, and wholly con-
sistent with confidence and respect ; and wishing you a long
and happy reign over learned puisnes and civil barristers,
" Believe me, &c.,
" H. Brougham."
He presided at the ceremony of my taking leave of the
Society of Lincoln's Inn, of which we had long been brother
benchers, and on this occasion he delivered a beautiful and
well-deserved eulogy upon the talents and the virtues of my
predecessor, to whom I really think he was attached by the
ties of true friendship.
On the 27th of May Lord Cottenham actually resigned, Resignation
and the Great Seal was put into Commission. Still, Brougham cottenham.
was as hostile as ever to the Government, and on the 17th of
June he spoke and voted for Lord Stanley's resolution
to censure Ministers, on account of their foreign policy, which
(being carried by a majority of thirty-seven) almost every one
believed would turn out the Whigs. However, Lord John
remained firm, and a counter-resolution was carried in the
Commons by a majority of forty-six.
♦ Word illegible — Ed.
of Lords.
563 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOKIA.
CHAP. The accession of the Protectionists to office was postponed,
' but could not be veiy distant.
A.D. 1850. In the mean time Brougham amused himself by doing all
Brougham the dutics of Chancellor in the House of Lords. Lord
serrwith™" Langdale had been appointed Speaker; but he never did
the func- more than put the question, as if he bad been Speaker with-
Chaucdior out being a peer. I was now too much occupied with my
iu the House (j^^igg ^s Chief Justico in my own court to take part in
hearmg appeals or attending to divorce bills, and I cautiously
abstained from personal or party contests. Brougham deter-
mined that, as far as the House of Lords was concerned, he
himself should be Chancellor de facto. Formerly he had
professed to be of the clamorous party who were for dividing
the judicial and the political functions of the Lord Chancellor,
and he had actually himself brought in a bill for that purpose.
But he now insisted that there was nothing objectionable in
the combination of these functions, and that they might all
be satisfactorily performed by one individual of competent
ability and industry. His theory was to be illustrated by a
great example. He therefore took possession of the pending
divorce bills (for which he always showed a great relish), and
although the arrear of appeals and writs of error had alarm-
ingly accumulated from Cottenham's illness, he resolved to
clear off the whole before the end of the session, without any
assistance.
Accordingly, he set to work in a most extraordinary
manner, assisted by two lay lords, in rotation, to make a
house. I know not that any serious injustice was done, but
the whole proceeding was considered very unseemly, and
much obloquy was thereby brought on the Government. In
consequence Lord John Russell resolved abruptly to put an
end to the Commission, and pressed the Great Seal on Lord
Langdale, arguing that although he could not attend to the
judicial business of the House while he was Master of the RoUs
and Lord Commissioner, as Chancellor he might stop the
complaints upon this subject which had become so loud.
Lord Langdale expressed great delight at the prospect of
being relieved from his duties as Lord Commissioner, but
positively refused to take the Great Seal as Chancellor. He
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 567
had always had an utter horror of coiumo- into collision with ClL^r.
VTTT
Brougham, and now, from broken health, he was more than ^_
ever unequal to the congressus. Lord John knew weU that a.o. 185('.
he need not make the offer to the Chief Justice of the
Queen's Bench, who, since his promotion, had openly declared
his resolution to refuse the Great Seal if offered to him, and
he resorted to the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who
after much hesitation accepted it.
But the object Avas not in the slightest degree effected of July,
detlu-oning the usurper. Brougham said that there were Brougham
some cases which he had beg-un to hear, and others which he lay down
had appointed to be heard, and which he must finish; he 1'.'^ '""'■„
^ ^ ' tions on the
frightened the new Chancellor by saying that they involved appoint-
some of the most abstruse intricacies of Scotch law; ad- Lord Truro
^^sed him to confine himself for the rest of this session *** ^''''"-
c^llor.
to the Court of Chanceiy, and held out a hope that he
might during the long vacation, with the gigantic industry
which characterized him, make himself master of Craig,
Erskine, and Stair. Lord Truro, who knew as little of the
law of Scotland as of the law of Japan, yielded to the gentle
violence, and actually did confine himself to the Court of
Chancery for the rest of the session.
Brougham was, therefore, undisputed master of the field,
and met with only one check, liesolved to dispose of all
the Common Law writs of error, as well as the appeals,
English, Irish, and Scotch, he had summoned the Common
Law Judges to attend in several cases which raised ques-
tions of great importance and difficulty. Unwilling that
they should be so disposed of, I made a motion in the
House that they should stand over till another session ;
on the ground (assumed, to avoid giving offence) that the
Judges, not expecting such a summons, had formed arrange-
ments with respect to their own courts, and the Court of
Exchequer Chamber, which could not now be disturbed
without serious public inconvenience. Brougham was in a
oTcat raofe, as if I had been takino; a morsel of bread out
of his mouth when he was hungry, and accused me of want
of courtesy in not giving him notice of the application ; but,
afraid to divide the House, he ungraciously yielded.
568
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.D. 1850.
His judicial
perform-
ances in the
absence of
the Lord
Chancellor.
Attacks
upon him
in the
Press.
5th Aug.
He com-
plains of
breach of
privilege for
a libel upon
him.
All the other cases he actually did decide, and I be-
lieve that all his decisions were defensible, with the
exception of one, in an appeal from the Court of Chan-
cery upon the construction of the " Winding-up Acts," and
the liability of " j)ro visional committee men." This de-
cision of his caused dreadful confusion, both at law and in
equity, and apprehensions were entertained that an Act of
Parliament would be necessary to set it right. But, to save
Brougham this disgrace, which he himself once proposed
to put upon Lord Wynford, we contrived, during the next
session of Parliament, by a little straining and ingenuity in
a similar case, to draw distinctions whereby the law upon this
subject was satisfactorily re-established.
Although no real fault, I believe, could properly be
found with the other decisions, Brougham, as a single Judge,
certainly did not enjoy the confidence of the bar or of the
public ; and although he might at last get right, he was in
the habit of rashly blurting out observations during the
argument which showed that at the time when he made them
he had no correct notion either of the facts or of the law
on which he was to adjudicate. Accordingly, the newspapers
contained letters from correspondents, and even leading
articles, complaining of the manner in which the judicial
business of the House was transacted in the absence of the
Chancellor, who was severely censured for abdicating his
duties.
Brougham, who had expected immense applause for the
manner in which he had performed his Herculean task, was
greatly enraged by these attacks, and a few days before
the prorogation made a formal complaint of breach of
privilege on account of the libels published upon the ad-
ministration of justice in their Lordships' House. After a
few introductoiy remarks, he thus proceeded : —
" A more mijustifiable, a more indecent, attack on any court of
justice I have never seen in the whole course of my experience.
I have been sitting for the last six or seven weeks in the admi-
nistration of justice in your aj^pellate jurisdiction, assisted by
other Peers not law lords. Of law lords I was the only one able
to attend. I undertook — I voluntarily undertook — this duty. I
A.D. 1850.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 569
sate as the onlj^ law lord while the Great Seal was in commission ; CHAP,
and on the appointment of my noble and learned friend to the ^^^^'
woolsack, hearing that there were heavy arrears of causes in his
own court, I felt it my bounden duty still to assist him and your
Lordships in getting rid of the arrears before you. I have heard
causes as important and difficult as ever came before you. I have
sate as many as five and six days in the week, Wednesdays and
Saturdays included — contrary to the usage of your Lordships. I
have succeeded, and arrears there are none. All the causes ready
for hearing have been heard, and all that have been heard have
been adjudicated upon. And I will venture to say that even in
cases where I have been under the necessity of reversing the
decision of the court below, the united opinion of the profession,
not excluding those members of the bar against whose arguments
1 decided, is in favour of the judgments I have delivered. But
I am attacked as if I had wantonly entered on a career of injustice
— setting law and decency at defiance. First the calumniator
says, ' this is the first time that appeals have been heard in this
House the Chancellor not being present.' Ignorance or ftilse-
hood ! When my noble and learned friend Lord Lyndhurst last
held the Great Seal, my noble and learned friends Lord Cotten-
ham, Lord Campbell, and myself, sate in turn three times every
w'eek, and decided long causes, sometimes in conjunction, and
sometimes separately. Then the libeller proceeds, ' The number
of cases knocked off in the Lords ;' as if some one had bragged of
the precipitate haste with which cases had been decided. I need
not tell your LordshijDS that I never used so vulgar and low-bred
an expression. ' The number of cases knocked off in the Lords
has been considerable ; but whether they have been gravely and
attentively heard, maturely considered, and satisfactorily dis-
posed of, is a question which will not be agreeably answered on
inquiry amongst the able men who for six weeks past have been
pleading at the bar of the House of Lords.' And then comes
more stupid ribaldry as to my motives in sitting as judge in the
House of Lords. I should regret indeed if now, for the first time,
and after a long professional career, and after twenty years of
judicial experience, I had afforded grounds for any such remon-
strance, betokening, on the part of the bar, a want of confidence
in my learning and my honour."
" Lord Chancellor Truro : Though I sought no assistance, my
noble and learned friend, in his zeal for the public service, was
good enough to undertake to hear and decide the appeals in this
House, and to leave me more at liberty to deal with the business
570
PtEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOIUA.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.D. 1850.
All his
schemes for
recovering
the Great
Seal for
ever ruined.
Papal ag-
gression.
A.D. 1851
of the Court of Chancery. I believe generally that the profession
is desirous that the person who holds the Great Seal should pre-
side over the judicial business in this House. But I have no
reason to doubt that this business has been very satisfactorily
disposed of by my noble and learned friend in my absence."
The Duke of Wellington and Lord Lansdowne compli-
mented Lord Brougham for his zeal in the public service,
and here the matter dropped without any steps being taken
to detect and punish the libeller.* Lord Stanley was, un-
fortunately, present at this exposure on the complaint of
"breach of privilege;" and from that time it was pretty
certain that, if ever a new Conservative Government was to
be constructed, Sugden would be Chancellor.
Soon after, all England rang with the cry of "Papal
aggression," in consequence of the Bull of Pio Nono, creating
Cardinal Wiseman Archbishop of Westminster, and dividing
the kingdom into Eoman Cathohc dioceses. Brougham, al-
though for allowing all reasonable latitude to religionists of
all denominations, had a laudable dislike of ultramontane
popery, probably sharpened by his education in Presbyterian
Scotland. Therefore, he did not disapprove of Lord John
Eussell's letter to the Bishop of Durham, which sounded the
alarm for Protestantism and national independence ; and he
afterwards even gave support to the "Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill," while he lamented that some defensive measure, less
insulting and more effectual, could not be proposed.
When Parliament met in the beginning of February, 1851,
Brougham was favourably disposed to Lord John Eussell's
Government, Lord Stanley, who had hitherto conciliated
Brougham's services by all fair means, had lately shown
symptoms of alienation as the prospect of being "sent for"
became nearer, that there might be no perplexing claim "upon
him, which he could not refuse without being liable to the
charge of bad faith, nor concede without detriment to his party
and to the country. There had even been some sharp skirmish-
ing between them, in which each of them claimed the victory.f
* 113 Hans-ard, 841.
t This happened when I was absent on the circuit. "When I returned,
Stanley said to me, " I have found it necessary to punish the Cossack," aud
Brougham said to me, " I have been obliged to show up that schoolboy Ned."
LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM. 571
But, unluckily, Brougliam now quarrelled with Lord *^:^^^^-
Truro, tlie new Chancellor, to whom he at first affected to "
Truro.
extend a condescending protection, powdered with a few a.d. 1851.
occasional sneers and sarcasms. The quarrel proceeded on Frougham's
two grounds : 1st. Truro, at last, insisted on taking care him- with Lord
self of the Divorce Bills, and on being present himself at the
hearing of all appeals and writs of error. 2ndly. He would
not dispose of his patronage as Brougham desired. Flagrant
war between them was ultimately occasioned by a vacant
Vice-Chancellorship. Brougham had a most amiable passion
(if he had not carried it to such excess) for favouring all who
were related to him by blood. He had a younger brother,
William, of unexceptionable character and rather clever, but
not well qualified for a high judicial appointment. Henry,
when Chancellor, had made him a Master in Chancery. He
now pressed Trm'O to make him a Vice-Cliancellor : for this,
among other reasons, that he might obtain for him a re-
mainder of the peerage of Brougham, although he was not
next collateral heir male. Truro — who during his short
Chancellorship displayed much honesty and discrimination
in his judicial appointments — absolutely refused to gratiiy
him in this respect. Hence Brougham, in furore, declared
that " Jonathan \Vilde had become a courtier ; and, having
married the Queen's cousin, laid all his patronage at the
Queen's feet. As to her having all the livings in the Chan-
cellor's gift, it does not so much signify ; but it will never
do to let the Court dispose of judicial appointments."
Lyndhurst was now in hot opposition, and he easily pre-
vailed upon Brougham, so incensed, to join in annoying
the Chancellor, and doing anything to damage the "\Miigs.
The Session had made little progress when Lord John
Kussell was driven to tender his resignation, and Lord Stanley
and Lord Aberdeen were successively sent for, and succes-
sively tried in vain to form a Government. Brougham was
deeply mortified to find that at this crisis no offer was made
to him, and he was consulted by no one. In his own opinion
the Queen, considering his great experience in public life,
his freedom from all party connections, and his high reputa-
tion with all sorts and conditions of men, ought to have
572
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOKIA.
.CHAP.
vni.
A.D. 1851.
Brougham
gives up
the great
game of
politics.
emjjloyed liim to form an administration, of which he should
be the efficient head, either being Lord Chancellor or First
Lord of the Treasury, if not Lord High Treasurer. Not only
no messenger came to Grafton Street from AVindsor, but
Lord John Kussell, by the advice of the Duke of Welling-
ton, was reinstated in office, and all his Cabinet — without
Brougham ever having received any communication resjDCct-
ing the pending negotiations from Whig, Peelite, or Pro-
tectionist.
I tliink he may now be considered as having given up the
great game of politics at which he had played with almost
unexampled boldness and brilliancy above forty years.
Henceforth we shall still find him making speeches in
Parliament, for speak he must by the necessity of his nature
wherever he finds or can make an opportunity of speaking,
but he no longer tried any great cou]i d'etat, he had no
scheme for his own political aggrandisement, and he was
guided by the impulse of the moment, merely gratifying a
momentary whim without any arriere ^ensee. He even gave
up almost entirely " Education," the " Administration of
Charities," and " Slavery," confining himself to his favourite
hobby Lmv Amendment. This hobby he did continue to ride
" fast and furiously," to the no small annoyance of his brother
Peers, and I may say of all the Queen's subjects,
I have diligently looked through the five volumes of Han-
sard for Session 1851, without being able to find anything in,
his many speeches with which I could hope to edify or amuse
the reader. He supported the important Bill for appointing
two Lords Justices of Appeal in Chancery, whereby the
office of Lord Chancellor escaped the long-threatened bisec-
tion and retained all its patronage, although its salary and
its prestige were very much reduced. But now he did not
care about the office, except in as far as the public was
concerned. There were some smart skirmishes between
him and me about the Crystal Palace, which amused the
House and the town at the time, but were soon forgotten.
Having at first violently opposed the erection of this struc-
ture in Hyde Park, he afterwards went over to the Pax-
tonians and resolutely contended that Hyde Park should be
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 573
permanently sacrificed to it, contrary to a pledge given both CHAP,
by the Crown and the House of Commons. But fortu- ^^^^'
nately he was defeated. ^ „ J85j
However, by the end of October all our differences seemed JJy visit
buried in oblivion. I then paid him, with my family, a most chttLn
agreeable visit at the Chateau Eleanor Louise, on the shore ^leauoi-
of the Mediterranean, as we were returning from Italy. He
still talked of "Jonathan Wilde," or "Tom, the Queen's
cousin," but did so now without any rancour, and he ap-
peared so mild and gentle and goodhumoured that no one
would have believed that he ever could have had a provoked
or unprovoked enemy in the world.*
At the opening of the Session in 1852 Brougham was at Factious
his post, and, without any ulterior view beyond badgering STordi''"'
the Lord Chancellor, joined with Lyndhurst in obstructing Brougham
the law reforms proposed on the part of the Government. hm-stJ'' "
To such a pitch of factiousness did they proceed that they
complained of the Common Law Procedure Act for not going
far enough, although it corrected flagrant abuses which had
existed without disturbance while the two vituperators respec-
tively held the Great Seal, and it made a greater chano-e in
the courts of common law than had been effected by all the
statutes that had passed since the reign of Edward I. Lynd-
hurst even went so far (Brougham cheering him) as to com-
* In a short account which my father wrote of his journey in 1851, 1 find the
following mention of his visit to Lord Brougham : — " I felt great curiosity
and interest when, after changing horses at Antibes, I di-ew near to the
chateau of ' my noble and learned friend.' ... I found him quite alone, —
that is, with one gentleman (Mr. Vane), who always goes abroad with liim as
his ' companion.' His place at Cannes is indeed most exquisitely beautiful.
He calls it 'Chateau Eleanor Louise,' in honour of his daughter, to whose
memory he is still tenderly attached. There are inscribed upon the walls
verses in her praise by himself, by the late Lord Carlisle, and by the late
Lord Wellesley. I thought the sight of my three daughters strongly revived
the recollection of her in his mind, and that he was assailed by the sense of
his own derelict condition. He comes, a solitary being, to a foreign land,
where there is no one to welcome him, without any occupation to excite him,
the projects of ambition which he has been fostering since his fall from power
for ever blasted, and the infirmities of old age perceptibly laying hold of
him. At first he seemed very melancholy, but he gradually briglitened up
as we tallied over our old friends. ... He conversed very agreeably about
the culture of his oranges and his olives, but he chiefly delighted in discuss-
ing the bills of tlie last session and those of the session which is to come. As
to the forthcoming new Reform BiU, we were pretty well agreed." — Ed.
574
KEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOKIA.
CHAP.
VIII.
A.B. 1852.
Fall of Lord
John Rus-
sell.
Kegret of
Lord
Brougham .
Brougham
under
Lord St.
Leonards as
Chancellor.
1st Julv.
Overthrow
of the
Derbyites.
plain that -written allegations of the complaint and of the
defence were not entirely swept away, — so that the parties
might come before the judge, verbally state their case, and
at once have a final adjudication upon all their difierences.
Lord John Kussell at last fell by his own imprudence in
bringing forward, to please the Radicals, a new Eeform Bill,
which all parties condemned, the principal enactment being
a resuscitation in gi'oups of the rotten boroughs extinguished
by himself in 1832. Brougham imagined that his opposi-
tion had materially contributed to the change, and for this
he quickly felt remorse. Instead of " Jonathan Wilde " he
now saw on the woolsack Sugden, whom he disliked more
heartily.
Brougham bore the misfortune with apparent magnanimity.
In public he affected to be rather cordial with the new
Chancellor, but he poured out his griefs pathetically into the
ear of a private friend. The truth was that he stood con-
siderably in awe of Sugden, who was infinitely superior to
him in professional knowledge and had far higher reputation
as a lawyer, while infinitely inferior to him in eloquence and
in hberal acquirements. When I returned from the Spring
Circuit in April I found that the new Chancellor had been
setting all the law lords at defiance, and had threatened to
repeal a bill which I had introduced as head of the Real
Property Commission, to regulate the execution of wills of real
and personal property. I was called in by Brougham to assist
in repressing this " aggression," and we gave our '■ noble and
learned friend " a lesson wliich made him comparatively
modest and humble during the remainder of his short tenure
of oflSce.
After the prorogation and dissolution of Parliament,
Brougham remained in England for the autumn session pro-
mised by the Protectionists for bringing forward their mea-
sures. But he made no memorable speech during the exist-
ence of the Derbv Government. The struo-o-le which resulted
in its overthrow was carried on exclusively in the House of
Commons on Mr. Disraeli bringing forward his rejected
budget.
Brougham was rather pleased with the coalition of the
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM/ 575
Peelites and the Wliks which now took place. He felt no CHAP,
disappointment in not being included in the arrangement, for '
he sincerely and hond fide had renounced all hope, and, I j^^ jg52_
believe, all wish of resuming office. Instead of the formid- Brougham
able Sugden he saw on the woolsack the meek and pliable ZmL ""
Eolfe, created Lord Cranworth, whom he expected easily to ''ptween the
manage. Lord Aberdeen would be more grateful for his Peelftes.
support than Lord Derby had been. The only interested
object which he now had in view for himself or his family
was to obtain a remainder of his peerage for his brother
William. He once had a great desire to become an Earl,
but this was entirely extinguished by the elevation of Cotten-
ham to that dignity. When Lord John Eussell conferred
that promotion on the retiring Chancellor, Brougham Avas
very indignant, and either wrote or dictated a pamphlet
ridiculing it, to which was affixed, ratlier felicitously, as a
motto " The offence is Rank."
576 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
1852 to
1856
CHAPTER IX.
1852— APRIL, 1859.
CHAP. I HAVE now broiio-lit down the life of Lord Broiioliaui to the
IX
' end of 1852, marked by the fall of Lord Derby's Govern-
^, , ^ ment.* Since he became a parliament man my narrative has
Sketch of . . ■•■ . . -^
the years been divided by years or sessions of parliament, and I have
hitherto found without difficulty something memorable that
he had done, spoken, or written in each of these portions of
time. He has retained his mental and physical powers
almost quite unimpaired, but his career has become much
more quiet and uniform. I will not say that " the flaming
patriot who scorched us in the meridian now sinks tem-
perately to the west, and is hardly felt as he declines." But
if I were to continue any minuteness of detail I should now
have only to relate year by year how he left his chateau at
Cannes in the middle of January, and, passing a few days in
Paris, turned up in the House of Lords on the first night of
the session to make some desultory observations in the debate
on the Address in answer to the Queen's Speech ; how he pre-
sented many petitions to the House every evening, taking the
opportunity of reminding their Lordships of what he had
done and what he still intended to do for law reform ; how
he claimed the county courts as his creation, and attempted
to give the county court judges unlimited jurisdiction over all
matters civil and criminal, legal and equitable, military and
ecclesiastical ; how he made repeated speeches on the same
subject — when giving notice of a motion, when withdrawing
the notice, and renewing the notice — as well as when the
motion came on; how he still made himself prominent in
the House by a copious distribution of praise and censure
* The memoir was resumed at this point by my father ia the year 1856, after
an interval of three years. — Ed.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 577
amono: those lie mentioned or alluded to; how he was CHAP.
IX
ever esteemed a very delightful companion in private, flat- '
tering his friends to their face and laughing at them be- a.d. 1852-
hind their back; how he affected to attend judicially to ■^^^*"
the hearing of appeals when he was writing notes to his
male and female acquaintances at the rate of a score in
a morning; how he gave pleasant dinners at which he
loved to assemble those with whom he had had the bitterest
quarrels, and charmed them all with his good humour and
kindness ; how he delivered speeches at the Law Amend-
ment Society, exalting himself and vilii^ending all com^
petitors in the race of law reform ; how he steadily made
the ' Law Keview ' a tiresome vehicle of self-laudation and
vituperation of others; how he would get sick of such
occupations about Easter, and run off for relief to rapid
motion and the sight of the Mediterranean sea ; how at
the end of a month he would return and resume his old
course till the end of the session, having in the mean time
published various speeches and pamphlets, and prepared new
editions of some of his innumerable works ; how he then
retreated to Brougham Hall, where he hospitably entertained
those whom in his writings he had attacked, was attacking,
and intended to attack ; how the unceasing rains and mists of
Westmorland drove him away in search of a more genial
climate ; how in Paris he gave lectures on his philosophical
discoveries to the members of the Institute, who, notwith-
standing their natural politeness and respect for his energy
and perseverance, experienced some difficulty in steadily pre-
serving a countenance of admiration ; and how he again
hybernated in the Chateau Eleanor Louise till awoke by the
Queen's proclamation summoning another session of Parlia-
ment at Westminster.
The repetition of such matters year by year would be irk-
some, and for the joint benefit of my "noble and learned
friend " and myself it will be better that I should merely, in
a few sentences, mention anything that has subsequently
occurred respecting him out of the common routine to which
I have referred.
Although he might have been very willing to accept Hesnppmts
.-, Lord Aber-
VOL. Vin. 2 P aeen.
578
EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP.
IX.
A.D. 1852'
18.54.
The appel-
late juris-
diction of
the Lords.
the Great Seal from Lord Aberdeen, he did not consider
himself aggrieved by being passed over, full well knowing
that there were various members in the coalition cabinet
to whom he was obnoxious. Himself being excluded, he
was much pleased to find, as a companion in exclusion,
Lord Truro, on whose stubborn nature he could make no im-
pression when measures were to be framed or places disposed
of. Rolfe he considered to be made of more " squeezable
materials ;" and he loudly praised the choice of a new Chan-
cellor.
Following the practice to which he had adhered since he
first entered the House of Lords, of sittiug on the ministerial
benches only when he was in opposition, Brougham continued
to sit on the opposition benches when the Derbyites came
over to the left of the throne ; but, affecting impartiality, he
decidedly favoured the new ministers. He exercised a sort
of protectorate over them, and threw away much good advice
upon them in public and in private. Lord Aberdeen, and
Lord Clarendon, the foreign secretary, were extremely civil
to him, and received his admonitions with seemingly sincere
deference. Ever since the year 1827, when he went across
the floor of the House of Commons, and " stuck his knees
into the back of Canning," his chief delight in life had been
to appear the patron of a rickety administration, without con-
descending to take office under it.
The appellate jurisdiction of the House of Lords now got
into great disrepute. The law lords who attended the hearing
of aj)peals were Lord Cranworth, Lord Brougham, and Lord
St. Leonards. If the last agreed with the two former, it was
generally for different reasons. Brougham coalesced with
Cranworth, so as to bring about a decision by a majority ; but
when he was absent, the two others disagreeing, the vote was
one to one, and they unwisely resolved, instead of having the
case re-argued before all the law lords, to allow on such occa-
sions the judgment always to be affirmed. But when Brougham
was present, he attended so little to what was going on, and
so indiscreetly betrayed his ignorance by irrelevant questions
put to the bar, that the joint opinion of himself and the
Chancellor carried little wei.oht with it, and the lawM^as more
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 579
and more unsettled by every fresh decision of the court of last CHAP,
resort. Brougham was disposed to play the tyrant over his ^
•protege, and in the exercise of the Chancellor's patronage, and a.d. 1852-
permitting bills to pass the Lords which were sure to be ^^^**
rejected in the Commons, he required very disagreeable con-
cessions. Though none of these were inconsistent with
strict honesty on the Chancellor's part, some of them ap-
proached very close to the line which separates right from
wrong ; and, in the Chancellor's situation, I certainly should
have resisted them at the peril of a rupture, although not
unconscious of the importance, with a view to a quiet life, of
Brougham's support in the House of Lords.
I must, however, do Cranworth the justice to record, that Courts of
1 • L -\ • • ^ TT-k 1? reconcilia-
he assisted me m withstandmg Brougham s scheme to prevent tion.
any action being commenced adversely till the parties had first
been brought together face to face in a " Court of Eeconcilia-
tion." Brougham repeatedly pressed upon us this his pet
reform, forgetful that of the actions commenced there are not
five in a thousand which arise from a personal quarrel, or in
which the parties understand or are capable of explaining
their conflicting claims, — the far greater proportion of actions
being brought to recover undisputed debts ; so that the pro-
posed preliminary attemj>t at reconciliation would mischie-
vously add to the delay and expense of litigation, and would
in many cases operate as a denial of justice.
Brougham thought that he would beat us both on a still The Crimi-
more important subject, — the framing of a Criminal Code.
Commissioners, appointed for this purpose at his instigation,
had performed their work in a very rude fashion, and he,
turning their Eeport into a Bill, pressed that it should at
once be j^assed into a law. He had some countenance from
Lord St. Leonards, now an ex-Chancellor, who from being a
legal optimist had suddenly become an ardent reformer, and,
to gain popularity for his party, was willing to join in an
experiment which would have thrown the administration of
criminal justice into utter confusion. But we succeeded in
obtaining a Select Committee upon the Bill, and a reference
upon it to the Judges, who, Avith entire unanimity, con-
demned the proposed Code, and pointed out the fatal conse-
2 r 2
580 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOHIA.
CHAP, queiices which many of its enactments would have produced.
Brougliam was highly incensed, and wrote with his own pen
A.D. 1854. two articles upon the subject in vituperation of the Judges,
one of which he got inserted in the ' Edinburgh Review,' and
the other in the ' Quarterly.' He then, in repeated speeches
delivered in the House of Lords and in the Law Amendment
Society, asserted that public opinion was entirely with him,
vouching for proof that the two great antagonistic Reviews
for once agreed, which shewed that " all parties were against
the narrow-minded opponents of codification." *
In 1854, when England was "drifting" into the Russian
war, I thought Brougham would have been roused to some
great oratorical efforts — particularly as Lyndlmrst, who used
to excite his jealousy and envy in debate, had gained immense
applause by very remarkable speeches he had delivered on
the aggressive policy of Russia and the timid policy of Aus-
tria and Prussia. But Brougham would not commit himself
by joining either the bellicose or the pacific, — pretty much
imitating the course taken by the Prime Minister, whom he
was inclined to patronise. Although sj^eaking almost every
night, he allowed the session to close in August without
leaving anything interesting to record, — his constant tojjics
still being the excessive co.tits of proceedings in the County
Courts, and the desideratum in our juridical system — " Courts
of Reconciliation."
Meeting In October, 1854, when returning from a tour in Germany,
Erouirham ^ ^^^^ ^™ ^^ Paris, on his way to Cannes, and I spent a week
in I'aiis,^ ^^ith him uiost agreeably. We were together at Marechal
St. Arnaud's funeral, and he very obligingly carried me to
* While fully aware of the impossibility of reducing the whole law of any
civilized country into a written code in which might be found all that judges
or legal practitioners can require for the due achninistration of justice, so that
all other Liw-books might be dispensed with and burned, I was in hopes that
the criminal law, from its simplicity and certainty, was a partial exception ;
but having sat for eleven days with one Chancellor and four ex-Chancellors,
Cranworth, Lyudhurst, Brougham, Truro, and St. Leonards, upon the single
title of " homicide," I gave up the attempt in despair. We never could agree
on a definition of murder or manslaughter. Brougham himself was particu-
larly unhandy at this work, and justified the answer given by Maulc, J., to the
question whether the attempt could now be safely made : — "I think the attempt
would now be particularly dangerous, for the scheme is impracticable, and
there are some who believe that they could easily accomplish it,"
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 581
the meetinofs of the Institute, and introduced me to his literary CHAP.
. , IX.
and scientific confreres.
We M'ere then in hopes of speedily hearing of the capture a.d. i85-t.
of Sebastopol, although the iirst intelligence of this event, ('onductof
which had caused such joy, had turned out to be a hoax.
Brougham was particularly sanguine, from having been made
the depositary of Lord Dundonald's secret for taking the
strongest places in the world by projectiles assailing the
sense of smell. This he had studied and communicated to
the Duke of Wellington, and the succeeding authorities at
the Horse Guards — and he himseK had entire confidence in
its efficacy. But, alas ! the works to defend Sebastopol were
raised with more energy and skill than those to attack it ;
when Christmas arrived the English army in the Crimea, by
mismanagement at home and abroad, had almost melted
away, and notwithstanding the glories of the Alma and of
Inker man an appalling dread was entertained of some un-
exampled national calamity.
Lord Aberdeen was forced to resiorn, and beins: speedily Palmer>toa
" . o 1 J Prime Mi-
followed by all his Peelite associates, a AVhig ministry was nister.
reconstructed with Palmerston at the head of it. a.d. 1855.
Brougham had been involved in the most serious personal
differences with Palmerston. For years he had bitterly
assailed the policy of the Whig Foreign Minister, and in
moving a vote of thanks to Lord Ashburton for concluding
the treaty with America under Sir Robert Peel, he embraced
the opportunity of showing up the alleged unfitness and
blunders of " the man who had done his best to embroil us
with all the states in the old world and in the new."
Nevertheless no sooner was Palmerston installed than. Brougham
recollecting Brougham's passion for protecting a minister, he th^new^Go-
opened a communication with him, and — not offering him a '^einment.
j)lace, but, what was perhaps more agreeable, expressing a
deep sense of his great influence in the House of Lords, in
the country at large, and all over Europe — asked whether he
might not hope for his supj)ort in the unprecedentedly difficult
position in which unforeseen circumstances had placed him.
There was immediately an entente cordials between them.
More suo Brougham continued to sit on the Opposition benches,
582 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
^Vv^' ^^^^' professing perfect political impartiality, and occasionally
. criticising the measures of Government so as to maintain his
A.D. 1855. character for independence, during the whole of the session
of 1855 he played a part which was very agreeable to the
new Government. Still he made no great speeches, and his
nightly topic was "the heavy tax imposed on suitors in the
county courts by the fees exacted from them to pay the
salaries of the judges."
He continued unaccountably to submit to the drudgery of
hearing appeals in the House of Lords. The occupation
yielded him neither profit, nor fame, nor amusement, and as
I believe he had at last abandoned all notion of a2:ain holdinir
the Great Seal, he could no lonirer be actuated bv the wish
to retain his acquaintance with juridical proceedings as a
Attack upon qualification for office. Unfortunately he, with Lords Cran- *
LTejurb- ^vorth and St. Leonards, contrived to get the appellate
diction of jurisdiction of the House into still greater discredit, and at
the end of the session Bethell, the Solicitor General, brouglit
the matter before the House of Commons, asserting that
"judicial business was conducted before the Supreme Court
of Appeal in a manner which would disgrace the lowest court
of justice in the kingdom." Brougham had left London for
Brougham Hall — in his phrase had ^^ prorogued himself " —
before this explosion, or he would have paid off Mr. Solicitor
with usury. According to his annual migration he took
wing for Cannes in October, " biding his time " at the
opening of another session.
Parke made Before this Came round, a storm was raised by a heedless
rt riAAV f 01*
life. step of the Government which involved us all in its vortex.
Cranworth, without consulting any one who could keep him
straight, thought that his best course would be to have two
new peers who would outvote, if not outweigh, St. Leonards,
and make him independent of Brougham. One of these was
Lushington, Chancellor of the Diocese of London, and Judge
of the Court of Admiralty ; but who, having a large family
and small means, could not accept an hereditary peerage.
A life peerage being proposed, he said he could not stand the
obloquy of being the first peer for life, but he would not mind
following in the wake of another. Baron Parke was fixed
LIFE OF LORD BE0UGHA3I. 683
Upon for tlie experiment, and in an evil hour lie consented ^?^^'
to its being made upon him. Brougham was still at Cannes,
but lie appeared in the House a few days after the opening a.d. 1856.
of the session, and he resisted the claim of Baron Wensley-
dale to sit in Parliament with great zeal and with great Brougham^s
talent, distinguishing himself more as a debater than he had tion to life
done for several years past. On Lord Lyndhurst's motion to Forages,
refer the patent to a committee of privileges he spoke shortly
and admirably ; and in the committee he delivered a most
excellent argument, which he published in a pamphlet,
encountering with skill and force the authority of Lord Coke,
Avhich was strong against us. Our triumph was complete,
the Lords having, by a large majority, " ordered and adjudged
that neither the patent, nor the writ of summons under it,
conferred any right to sit as a peer."
But a considerable mortification followed to Brougham, Violent ai-
which is not yet by any means at an end. He has taken a Brougham
part in hearing appeals in the House of Lords above a quarter ^^. ^''i"*^^'
of a century, and he fondly hoped that his performance of
this character would afford one of the many grounds on
which he must enjoy a brilliant and lasting reputation with
posterity ; but a select committee having been appointed, on
tlie motion of Lord Derby, to consider whether any and what
change in the exercise of the appellate jurLsdi(;tion of the
House is required, grave complaints have been brought
forward against his demeanour in hearing appeals, and against
various judgments he has delivered. On the adjournment
for the Easter holidays he set off in high dudgeon for Cannes,
and there he still remains, nursing his wrath.* I have
received two long letters from him inveighing against those
who have offended him, advocating the old system, and
expressing his reprobation of the proposed remedy of intro-
ducing a Scotch lawyer as a member of the appeal tribunal.
Having thus told all I know that is memorable of him Farewell for
fi-om his birth to the present hour I must here pause, and ^f^^'^^f^jg
this may be the conclusion of my memoir. Although he is of Lord
a year older than I am he may very probably survive me, ^°"^ ^"'
* Written 13th of Apiil, 1850.— Ed.
584 ' EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAP, and I shall not resume it unless I survive him. In that
event I should like to trace him to his last abode, and try to
A.D. 1856. wind up with an impartial estimate of his character and
career. At present I recollect nothing omitted by me which
can be supposed to do him honour, except that he has lately
published an edition of ' Newton's Principia ' in conjunction
with a Cambridge mathematician ; that he has favoured the
world wdth a selection, in three volumes, of his essays in the
' Edinburgh lieview ' (omitting, however, the most famous of
them, his criticism on Byron, which elicited tlie poem
of ' English Bards and Scotch Eeviewers ') ; and that he is
carrying through the press a new edition of all his works,
oratorical, political, critical, philosophical, historical, bio-
graphical, and miscellaneous (in how many volumes it is not
yet stated). It is rumoured that he is likewise employed
upon an autobiography. I hope, most sincerely, that this
is true. From his failure as a novelist in ' Albert Lunel ' *
I doubt whether he possesses the tact of presenting an
individual personally before the readers of a book, bringing
them acquainted with him, and making them take a sympa-
thetic interest in his progress and adventures. But he
knows a great deal which, if disclosed, would be found most
valuable, and I should be delighted with the opportunity of
comparing his own with my statement of his acts, his wishes,
and his motives.
From isth 13//^ April, 1859. — It is exactly three years since I con-
to lath ' eluded my Memoir of Lord Brougham. We both survive ; but
Apnl, 1859. jjj ^j-jg meantime nothing remarkable has happened to either
of us. While I have been carried along as Chief Justice by
the regular revolution of Term, Sittings, Circuit, and Vacation,
he has oscillated between Provence and England, delivering
a lecture to the Institute as he passes through Paris, and
making tiresome speeches on Law Reform in the House of
Lords. He gave a general support to Lord Palmerston's
Government, notwithstanding former quarrels, but he seldom
spoke on foreign politics.
* ' Albert Luuel, or the Chateau of Languedoc,' published in 18-i4.
LIFE OF LORD BROUGHAM. 585
In the year 1856 he retn-ed to Brougham Hall several CHAP,
weeks before the end of the Session, and thence, when I was __^^_
libelled so shamefully after Palmer's famous trial for poison- a.d. 185G.
ing, he addressed the following letter to me : —
" Brougham, 11th June, 1856.
" My dear C. J., — I have of late been reflecting on Denman's
great alarm about the threatened inroad of Lynch law. He
no doubt regarded the press as the road for that invasion ;
and I have had my attention drawn to the subject by the inter-
ference of the press with Palmer's case. No doubt it is after and
not before the judgment, and this is a great mitigation ; but still it
somewhat affects the ultimate dealing with the particular case,
and greatly affects judges and juries as to future cases. I need
hardly say that if all judges w^ere as much to be relied on as you,
little harm would be done. But I could name others who would be
much affected by the attacks, which 1 see with a disgust I have
no words to dascribe, upon your late admirable conduct of the
trial. I assure you I have read those attacks with feelings of
general reprobation quite independent of those which my personal
regai-d for you so naturally inspire. I refer particularly to a
pamphlet in the name of the man's brother (a clergyman), and
which I have read copied into the daily papers. It clearly is
not written by the clergyman, but by some lawyer or half-lawyer,
and I am very clear that if it either proceeds from or is coimte-
nanced by any of the counsel in the cause (wbich I cannot believe
possible), it is as great an outrage as I have ever known in the
profession. At the same time, much as one feels the evil of these
things, one cannot easily check them while full and free dis-
cussion of public conduct, including judicial, is allowed — as
allowed it ever must needs be.
" If you have seen the foul matter, you certainly have despised
it even more than I do. If you have not, there is no harm in
your being aware how heartily I both despise and abominate it.
There might even have been some talent shown in it, reminding
us of your predecessor's rule as to never convicting where the
body is not found, and extending this generally to Corpus delicti.
But no such skill appears, ordy violence and scurrility, excusable
in a brother perhaps, not in any professional ally.
" Yours ever,
" H. B.
" I am getting so slowly round that I can hardly say I mend
at all."
586 KEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOEIA.
CHAP. I think the Attorney General would have done Avell if he
• had prosecuted, as there ought to be some limit to the
A.D. 1856. invectives against public functionaries when corruption is
imputed to them, but I would not stir in the matter, for
vituperation gives me no uneasiness, and it can do me little
damage in public estimation to compare me to Jeffereys and
Scroggs.
From his retirement at Brougham Hall, Brougham also
wrote to me the following letter in reference to the bill
which the Lords had passed, and which was then pending in
the Commons, empowering the Crown to create a limited
number of peers for life, with a view to the judicial business
of the Upper House : —
« Brougham, 14th July, 1856.
"My dear C. J., — I feel with you how very awkward the
condition of the House of Lords is. In truth, the folly of Derby in
advertizing the inadequacy of the appeHate Judicature has been
the cause of all the evil, or nearly all. The Parke peerage began
it, but there was no occasion for what followed, because I am con-
fident that had they given an hereditary peerage immediately
after our decision, and had St. Leonards agreed to give up eternal
disputation (he has really been the main cause of the clamour) ,
we might have gone on as before. The vacation will produce
some calmer discussion, and it will then be seen how little ground
there has been for the main charges against the House of Lords.
As for anylhing being done now — I mean this session
— it is hopeless. I should have made an effort to attend had
there been the least possibility of anything. But I have been only
very slowly getting round, and I am positively forbidden to go
back to business
"You will see, a p-opos of Lynch law and United States abomi
nations, in the next ' Law^ Eeview,' a full — or at least a sufficient
exposure of the attacks I formerly wrote to you about, and an
introductory view of the necessity of making those who attack
courts do it in their own name, that it may be seen if they are
angry counsel, attorneys, or parties.
" Yours ever,
" H. Brougham."
He had condemned this bill, and every plan proposed for
improving the appellate jurisdiction of our court of dernier
ressorf, — thinking it perfect while he sat in it.
LIFE OF LOKD BROUGHAM. 587
I am now glad that the bill was rejected by the Commons, CHAP,
for although the judicial business in the Lords was for some __U___
time longer conducted in a very unsatisfactory manner, yet a.d, 1856.
since Brougham has almost entirely ceased to attend to it,
and Pemberton Leigh has been created a peer under the title
of Lord Kingsdown, public confidence in this tribunal has
been restored, and I hope that (Cairns, the new Solicitor
General, becoming Chancellor) it may long be entitled to
public confidence.
Having retreated to Hartrigge in the autumn, I invited
Brougham to visit me there to meet Philpotts, Bishop of
Exeter, whom he abused so terribly in his famous speech
against the Durham clergy, but with whom, as well as John
Wilson Croker, and almost all his former Tory antagonists,
he had long been reconciled. I received the following
courteous answer : —
" Brougham, 21st August, 1856.
" My dear C. J., — Many thants for your kind letter and
hospitable invitation, which, I am sorry to say, I cannot avail
myself of, as I am here in expectation of what the newspapers
call a succession of visitors, beginning next week early, and
continuing I cannot now tell how long, because some are from
the other side of the Channel.
" I assure you I should have greatly relished an excursion to
your quarter, and had rather have met the Bishop, an old North
circuit friend, and a most agreeable companion, than even the
Judges of Scotch Assize.
" But I should still more have desired a free conference with
you on House of Lords, and the endless blunders committed
there ; and I would fain hope that we still may meet before my
southern flight
" Yours ever,
"H. B.
"Kind regards to Lacly S., but we really have a right to com-
plain of these constant passings by us."
In the course of this year his popularity was much in-
creased. There issued from the press a ponderous volume
entitled 'Lord Brougham's Acts,' with panegyrical notes
from the pen of the Editor, Sir Eardley VVilmot. In this
were contained all my Acts for the Amendment of the Law
588 EEIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
^HAP. of Keal Property, and all Lord Tenterden's Acts, and almost
' all the Law Eeform Acts passed for the last thirty years.
A.D. 1856. One man reclaimed a portion of the stolen goods — asserting
himself to be the author of the bill for permitting parties in
a civil cause to be witnesses — but the rest of the body plun-
dered remained quiescent, and the newspapers placed
Brougham as a law-giver above Solon, Justinian, or Napoleon
the Great. This volume was dedicated to Brougliam himself
— with his " kind permission " — but let us hope that when
he kindly gave the permission he was unacquainted with its
contents.
For years he had been President of the Law Amendment
Society — which he worked as a literary engine by its organ
the ' Law Eeview.' This Society being comparatively ob-
scure, he panted for a ^^•ider field of usefulness, and was
gratified by the establishment of the Social Science Society,
which embraced among its members Lord John Russell and
many other distinguished politicians and authors ; whicli was
divided into sections for the consideration of all subjes-ts
connected with social improvement, comprehending juris-
prudence ; and which was to hold aggregate meetings once a
year in some great provincial town for lectures and debates.
A.D. 1857 The first meeting was at Birmingham, and here Brougham
acquired immense renown. Like Bottom in 'Midsummer
Night's Dream,' he was eager to play all the parts himself.
He assigned the Law of Bankruptcy to Lord John Eussell,
but he retained for himself National Education, the Abolition
of Slavery, the Diftusion of Useful Knowledge, and the
Advancement of Science. For a week too'ether he extern-
porised on these topics to crowded and admiring audiences,
and at this dead season of the year the editors of all the
newspapers in the kingdom were delighted to fill their
columns with his harangues.
These exercitations and plaudits had a very salutary effect
both on his mind and body. From the languor of rural life
be had fallen into a state of deep depression, and his family
were most seriously alarmed. Several common friends who
came to me from visiting him at Brougham Hall declared
that he never appeared till dinner was announced ; that he
LIFE OF LORD BEOUGHAM. 589
sat silent at table, hardly tasting any food, and that he left CHAP,
them abruptly before the ladies had withdrawn. When I '
returned to London in the beginning of November, I found
him in high health and spirits — delighted with his sociolo-
gical achievements.
The following year (1858) the Society met at Liverpool, a.d. 1858.
and President Brougham again, for a week, pleased liimself
and the multitude as much as before — again having Lord
John Eussell to play second fildle to him.
In the autumn of this year Brougham likewise obtained
prodigious newspaper applause for an oration he delivered
on Newton at the inauguration of a statue of the great
philosopher erected at the place of his birth. I really
believe that the oration was very well jirepared for the
occasion, although it can have no permanent interest.
The generation of journalists whom Brougham, when
Chancellor, flattered and disappointed, and who long had their
revenge upon him by systematically extenuating his merits
and exaggerating his faults, has passed away, and the public
are now disposed to give credit to his own assertions re-
specting himself — that he has ever been consistent in his
principles and disinterested in his conduct, and that since he
resigned the Great Seal, never wishing to engage in party
strife, he has patriotically devoted himself to the improve-
ment of our laws and institutions. If he were to die while
this impression remains upon the public mind, I should not
be surprised if he were to be buried in Westminster Abbey,
the two Houses of Parliament attending his funeral.
When Parliament met in the beginning of February in ^'^- 1859.
the present year (1859) Brougham, as usual, came from
Cannes to be present, and he made several judicious and
useful speeches upon the wickedness of France and Austria
in going to war without any casus belli, and on the importance
of the entente cordiale between England and France being
preserved. To show his impartiality, he lavished his advice
both upon the opposition and the ministers. He strongly
remonstrated with Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon
against their visit to the Emperor Louis Napoleon at Com-
picgne, and he pointed out to Lord Malmesbury, the Foreiga
592 POSTSCRIPT.
Lord Brougham's life was prolonged for nine years from
the date at which tin's Memoir stops, a few weeks after which
my father was himself appointed Chancellor. During the
two years that he held the Great Seal perfect peace and
amity reigned between him and Lord Brougham, and they
were sitting together hearing appeals in the House of Lords
on the last day on which my father presided there, and the
last but one of his life — Friday, the 21st of June, 1801. This
was alluded to by Lord Brougham in a speech which ho
made on the Monday following in the House of Lords, Avarmly
bearing his testimony to "the great judicial talents " of his
noble and learned friend who had so suddenly been removed
from the midst of them.
During his remaining years Lord Brougham retired more
and more from jjolitical strife, and devoted his energy and
activity to the Association for the Promotion of Social Science.
He was elected President at the annual meetings of this
Society which were held successively at Glasgow, Dublin,
Jjondon, Edinburgh, York, and Sheffield, and at all these
places he delivered long addresses. His strength, however,
was gradually declining, and the last gathering of the Asso-
ciation which he attended was at Manchester, in 18G6.
He continued his practice of migrating for a part of every
year to Cannes. He spent his last winter at his favourite
Chateau Eleanor Louise, and there he died on the 7th of
May, 18(i8, in his 90 th year.
( 593 )
APPENDIX
TO
CHAPTEE III. OF THE LIFE OF LOED BROUGHAM.
August, 1857. — Since writing the above account of Queen
Caroline's proceedings on her return to England, I have
been favoured by the DoAAager Lady Truro with a perusal of
the originals of the following correspondence between the
Queen and George IV. respecting her ]\rajesty's name being
inserted in the Liturgy, and her presence at the King's
Drawing-room and at his Coronation. The original letters
came into the possession of Lord Truro as one of her Majesty's
Executors. The draughts of the Queen's letters are in the
Queen's own handwriting, and seem to be her own com-
position from the bad spelling and ungrammatical English,
but they were no doubt afterwards corrected by her counsel
or other advisers.
The Queen to Lord Liverpool.
" Braudenbnrgh House, 18tli of Marcli, 1S21.
" The Queen Communicates to Lord Liverpool that in Conse-
quence that Queen has not Received any answer relatif to her last
letter, w^hich she wrote on the 3th of March, the Queen Requests
Lord Liverpool to informe his Majesty the King that the Queens
intentions is to present herself in Person at the Kings Drawing
room to have the opportunity of Presenting a Petition of obtaining
her Rights that the Queens Name should be Restored to the
Liturgy as her Predecessors.
" Caroline R."
Lord Liverpool to the Queen.
"Fife House, 19th March, 1821.
" Lord Liverpool has the honour to inform the Queen that the
letter which he received on the 3rd inst. was immediately laid
before the King ; but as His Majesty saw^ no reason for altering
his determination upon the principal question of the Liturgy
VOL. Vlll. 2 Q
594 APPENDIX.
referred to in it, and as the Queen concluded Her letter by
saying that ' She submitted Herself entirely to His Majesty's de-
cision,' the King did not consider any answer to be requisite.
" Lord Liverjiool is now commanded to state that the King
must decline receiving the Queen at His Drawing-room ; but he
will be ready to receive any Petition or Eepresentation the Queen
may be desirous of bringing before Him, through Ijord Liver-
pool, or through the Secretary of State."
The Queen to Lord Liverpool.
« Braudenbui-gh House, the 19th of March, 1821.
" The Queen is miich Surprised at the Contents of Lord Liver-
pool letter and is anxious to know from Lord Liverpool if his
Majesty has Commanded him to forbid the Queen from appearing
at his Drawing Eoom, or merely to prevent her Majesty pre-
senting Her Petition in Person to the King.
" The Eestoration of the Queens name to the Liturgy being-
first and only favor the Queen had ever Solicited from his Ma-
jesty, she trusts he will be graciously pleased to acquiesce in, and
she most Ernestly Prays his Majesty to grant.
" Caroline E."
Lord Liverpool to the Queen.
"Fife House, 20th March, 1821.
" Lord Liverpool has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
the Queen's letter of the 19th inst., and as the Queen puts to him
the question ' Whether His Majesty has commanded Lord Liver-
pool to forbid the Queen from appearing at Llis Drawing Eoom,
or merely to prevent Her Majesty from presenting her Petition
in person to the King ' — Lord Liverpool is under the necessity
of stating that, the King having the clear and undoubted right to
regulate his own Drawing Eoom in such manner as He may think
proper, His Majesty feels it impossible, under all the circum-
stances, to permit the Queen to be present at it ; and Lord Liver-
pool begs farther to add that the King will be ready to receive
any communications the Queen may have to lay before Him, as
heretofore, through the channel of His Government.
" Lord Liverpool will feel it his duty to lay the Queen's letter
of 3'esterday before the King ; but after the determination of His
Majesty, so repeatedly and recently announced, on the question
of the Liturgy, Lord Liverpool cannot hold out any expectations
to the Queen that His Majesty's decision on this subject will un-
dergo any alteration."
APPENDIX. 595
Lord Liverpool to the Queen.
'^ Fife House, March 21st, 1821.
" Lord Liverpool has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
the Queen's note of this day, together with a sealed Petition
addressed to the King.
" Lord Liverpool has obeyed the Queen's commands in for-
warding the Petition immediately to the King."
Lo7-d Liverpool to the Queen.
" Fife House, March 23rd, 1821.
" Lord Liverpool has received the King's commands to acknow-
ledge the receipt of the Queen's Petition.
" His Majesty has commanded Lord Liverpool to inform the
Queen, in answer to it, that the decision of the question of the
Lituigy in the month of February of last year was not taken by
His Majesty without the fullest consideration ; and the King
regrets to be under the necessity of adding that nothing has since
occurred which can induce His Majesty to depart from the de-
cision then adopted."
The Queen to the King.
''■ Sunday, 29tli April, 1821.
" The Queen from Circumstances being obliged to remain in
England, Her Majesty requests the King will be pleased to Com-
mand those ladies of the first Rank His Majesty may think the
most proper in this Eealms to attend the Queen on the day of
the Coronation, which Her Majesty is informed is now fixed, and
also to Name those Ladies which will be required to bear Her
Majesty's train on that day.
"The Queen being particularly anxious to submitt to the good
Taste of His Majesty most earnestly entreats the King to informe
the Queen in what dress His Majesty wishes the Queen to appear
in on that day of the coronation.
« Caroline R."
TJie Qiieen to Lord Liverpool.
" Brandenburgh House, May .5tli, 1821.
" The Queen is much Surprised at Lord Livei-pool's answer,
and assures the Earle that the Queen is determined to attend at
the Coronation, Her Majesty considering it as one of Her Rights
and Priveledges which the Queen is resolved ever to Maintain.
" The Queen requests Lord Liverpool to Communicate the above
to His Majesty."
596 APPENDIX .
" Whitehall, July 13th.
" Madaji, — I have laid before the King your Majesty's letter to
me of the 11th of this month, which states that your Majesty con-
siders it necessary to inform me that it is your Majesty's inten-
tion to be present at the 19th, the day fixed for His Majesty's
Coronation, and you therefore demand that a suitable place may
be appropriated for your Majesty ; and I am commanded by the
King to refer your Majesty to the Earl of Liverpool's letter of
the 7th of May last, and to acquaint your Majesty that it is not
His Majesty's pleasure to comply with the application contained
in your Majesty's letter."*
* Lord Liverpool's letters are all in his own handwriting ; but this, which I
presume is from the Lord Chamberlain, is a copy in the handwriting of Queen
Caroline, and the signature is omitted.
THE END.
LOKDON . PErNTED BT WUXIAM CLOWES AND SONS, OTAITFOBD STEEET,
AND CHARING CROSS.
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